


Season 3 AU Episode Ladybug; The Law is the Law

by BardofWorlds



Series: Ladybug Episodes AU [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chloè redemption, Episode: s03 Ladybug, Episode: s03 Ladybug Spoilers, F/M, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Gen, Identity Reveal, Lawsuits, MLB needs more competent adults, Miraculous Holder Chloé Bourgeois, Miraculous Holder Nino Lahiffe, Protect Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Protect Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Tags to be added, miraculous holder max kante
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 77,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22825015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BardofWorlds/pseuds/BardofWorlds
Summary: AU of the Season 3 Episode Ladybug, here Adrien has finally been pushed to the breaking point and took action, while Collège Françoise Dupont was called out for how Damocles treated Marionette and expelled her!  At the end what will the status quo be changed forever and who will be standing when the dust clears?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Series: Ladybug Episodes AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1681468
Comments: 91
Kudos: 330





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well this was my first of my new AU’s people, leave a review please. And just so you know, this will be a two parter so expect the second before the month is out. And if you like my work check out my profile for my other works, and my Mana side by side series and my Pokemon Work! Please leave a review if you liked it, okay?

Adrien scowled as he reached the location of the photoshoot, the way the battle with Mayura and Hawkmoth, what had been done to Sentibug was still causing him some problems, he didn’t know if after everything that had happened today he didn’t know how he would be able to handle the shoot. When he saw Lila sitting on a chair and having her makeup done he stopped and grabbed Vincent as he walked by. Vincent turned to Adrien and paled as he saw the look in Adrien’s eyes.

“Vincent, hey……quick question, why in the name of everything good and pure is Lila here?” Adrien asked flatly as Vincent swallowed.

“I don’t know Adrien, all I know was that I was told there would be a new model at the shoot, nothing about who or why only that Nathalie would introduce her…..Love to talk kid but I have to go and get my camera ready, sooooo. Bye.” Vincent said as he dashed off, throwing a look at Adrien as he walked away. _You know, I wondered how he was Gabe’s kid but that there, it’s gone now._ He thought as he looked around and saw the looks on the other crew’s faces and hoped Adrien wouldn’t explode.

Adrien looked at Lila and scowled, not needing this now. _I don’t know what Father’s thinking, anyone in the class could have been a better pick, Sabrina, Juleka, or Chloe if he wanted someone my age to model with that’s not in the business. But maybe I can use this, if I can talk to her she might clean up what she did to Marinette, and if not then I might get the pressure to make her do it._ Adrien thought as he reached for his phone and moved it to his pocket, praying that he wouldn’t have to use this.

“I don’t know how but you will fix this Lila. How could you get Marinette expelled?!” Adrien demanded as he discreetly pointing his phone’s camera at her, part of him hoping this wouldn’t be necessary.

“Why should I do that? I tried to get her to play ball and she wouldn’t, I warned her and we both made our choices, I made mine and here we are.” Lila said as she looked at Adrien as he stared at her. “I told her I would ruin her and I did, I said I would get you and here I am.”

“So just so we’re clear, you lied, you threatened Marinette and got her expelled because she called you out on your lies? How did you even do it anyway?” Adrien asked as he fought to keep his temper down _‘Get me’, so I was right about her. Just another person who objectified me or sees what they want to think._ Adrien thought as he looked at her. 

“It was so easy, all I had to do was go to the bathroom after the test, pull the alarm and get the answer sheet that was left on that idiot teacher’s desk, and put it in Marinette’s bag. They never even noticed it but it was after the last class and well.” Lila said with a giggle as Adrien fumed and glared at her.

“And you would do it again, wouldn’t you?” Adrien asked as he kept his face plain, but inside he was shocked that this was so easy to get what he needed from her.

“I would even without the bonus your father gave me.” Lila said as Adrien looked at her in confusion. 

“Bonus, my father? What does he have to do with this?!” Adrien demanded as he looked at Lila, on the inside he wasn’t scared but angry, and he felt the last vestige of his control was starting to burn away.

“Don’t act so surprised, he had to have talked to you about it and told you to act the way you did before the Akuma attacked everyone, the Gabriel brand overall, and its spokesperson speaking up for someone accused of a crime would be a perfect publicity stunt.” Lila said she looked at him. 

Adrien stared at Lila as his vision went red as she sat there grinning back at him as he went over what she had said before whipping his head around and he saw Nathalie in the limo looking towards the shoot, his eyes widening as he realizes that for once Lila was telling the truth, turning off his phone he turned to look at the river and tried to calm down. _I can’t believe this! I knew something was wrong when I learned that Lila was going to model with me but I can’t believe……Wait….if she’s here because of that then this means!_ Adrien thought as his thoughts crystalized

“You did that for this!? You were completely willing to ruin her life for _this?!_ ” Adrien exploded as he shot up from his chair looking at her. As the crew looked on Adrien grabbed her, pulled her behind him despite what she was saying, and with surprising strength threw her into the river! 

Nathalie got out of the car and rushed over towards the water as the crew stared in total shock before they moved to help Lila out.

“Adrien what were you thinking! Your father will not be happy about this at all. I don’t even know what….!” Nathalie would have kept talking but Adrien turned around and looked at her with such a look of rage, anger, and disgust in his eyes that she stopped talking.

“I don’t care.” Adrien said flatly as Nathalie tried to recover. “Nathalie, tell my father that for the first time ever I’m glad that mom is gone. This way I have memories of a beautiful person instead of someone who could love the monster that he’s become!” Adrien said as he looked at her and gripped his phone. “An Agreste is held to high standards; well this has shown me that mine are very different from his and no amount of effort will ever be good enough for him!”

As Nathalie looked at him, really looked at him for the first time ever she could comprehend what she was seeing. Adrien had always been accommodating to Gabriel’s wishes that she never thought that he would ever act this way. Adrien turned, manipulating his phone as he did so, and walked away, not even paying her any peace of mind. Nathalie looked around and saw the photo crew trying to get Lila out of the river and stormed over to them, pulling them back and staring down at her. ”What did you say?” 

“What?” Lila asked as she tried to climb out of the river.

“What did you say Lila!?” Nathalie demanded as Lila looked up at her. “Adrien has never, ever acted even remotely like that or said anything about his father, so WHAT. DID. YOU. SAY?”

“I told him about the job that got me here. Why the hell he’d react that way, Gabriel told me to do it!” Lila said as Nathalie looked down at her and paled.

“Louis, hey. Sorry to call out of the blue but can we talk?” Adrien said into his phone as walked off, ignoring the camera crew as they stared at him, he just kept walking. 

“Yeah Adrien, what’s up?” Louis’s voice came through the phone as Adrien could hear the squeak of his chair as he leaned back in it. “Need some wisdom from somebody who’s been around the block a few times?”

“No, not wisdom…… do it, that thing we talked about. He’s finally crossed my final line; I don’t have a choice anymore.” Adrien said as he looked behind him, not seeing the Gorilla anywhere so there was that.

“You sure kid? Once this goes out there’s no turning back, this is a big choice to make?” Louise asked causing Adrien to nod before he realized that Louise couldn’t see him and blushed before he spoke again.

“Yeah I am, what he is, what he’s willing to do for his brand, I just can’t live with myself if we don’t do this.” Adrien said as he walked.

“And…….. done! In a few hours there’s going to be such an investigation that gonna cause old Gabe to pass out! I’m sorry you were pushed to this point kid, but I’ve got a spare couch if you want to use it.” Louise said.

“Don’t be, I should have done this months ago. Looking back my relationship with him died when mom disappeared.” Adrien said as he felt Plagg press against him and he reached into the pocket Plagg was in and felt Plagg hug his hand. _At least I still have him and Ladybug, and her kwami too._ He thought as he released a breath and let the last of his relationship with his father die as it should have when he started to treat him as only an employee. “And about that second thing I just sent you a video I just shot, and I think I have some pro bono work you’ll love, do you know the bakery near my school?”

“Yeah, I love their cookies, but what do Tom and Sabine have to do with this? And you know I only do that stuff when I have a good target of injustice so what happened?” Louis asked. 

_Wait a minute, don’t those two have a daughter who should be around the kid’s age?_ Louise thought as he waited for Adrien’s reply.

“First off, is it legal for a student to be expelled on the same day as the crime?” Adrien asked as he walked through Paris, hoping that

“No, all students need a hearing for expulsion, did he use that word? Hold on I’ve got the file you sent me………holy! And this bitch framed a friend of yours at Gabe’s direction?!” Louise said as he “Kid you should have called me sooner, now I can probably get the expulsion off her records and I think I can get a nice settlement for her and then there’s your dad but….”

“That’s it Louise it happened today!” Adrien interrupted him and Louise stopped talking. “There wasn’t a hearing, she wasn’t suspended, the principle just expelled her in front of everybody!”

“Adrien, buddy. You bring me the best presents! A perfect way to strike against the school that let the person that abused my goddaughter into trying to commit suicide walk free, I love it!” Louis said with a laugh.

“Wait, what! My school is the one where that happened?” Adrien asked as he stopped moving for a moment as his eyes went wide.

“Yeah, this bitch always believed the whore and punished my goddaughter, she almost killed herself. In the end the teacher was fired, the bully had left and moved to a different county and what a teacher could do to a student was changed. I think they were talking about changing the rules for how they punish someone. One of the most idiotic ideas was to for it to only apply if the teacher saw them do it or they got it on camera, the most insane idea I have ever heard.” Louise said as Adrien gasped. “Kid, what is it?”

“I think they did make that rule Louise. Chloe hasn’t changed much and besides words and actions taken where no one besides the victim could see it, she’s gotten away with a lot. And this time Mari….the _victim_ was expelled based on only on the accuser's word, they even made it a public spectator. ” Adrien said flatly. _Is this why Chloe gets away with everything she does?_

 _But wait the cameras!_ He thought as he heard Louise’schair pushed backward as he got up.

“WHAT! I know they’ve got cameras in that place; it was part of the settlement! Don’t tell me that they aren’t being used!” Louise exclaimed with a hint of anger in his voice.

“They’re practically ornamental at this point! They never even looked at the ones in the courtyard, all Lila said was that Marinette pushed her down the stairs and the principle believed her!” Adrien said as he heard Louise grit his teeth. “And I admit finding the necklace in her locker was damming but there are no locks on any of them and it could have fit through the grill!”

“This necklace, it was tested for fingerprints at least right?” Louis asked as Adrien stayed silent and Louis felt a headache coming on. “Adrien tell me they at least did that and listened to more than just one student right, please?”

“I can’t Louise, I just can’t.” Adrien said softly as he heard Louis trying to keep his temper down and count backward from twenty.

“Kid, I’ll meet you at the bakery, if I hear anything more now I’m going to scream. I’ll have my people send out the papers for the first thing you called me about before I leave, see you there.” As Adrien heard the call end he sighed as he brought up a texting program and sent a quick message to Nino before he turned his phone off and removed its battery.

“Plagg, I should have done this when this began.” He said softly as he walked towards Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie.

“The throwing Lila into the river or calling in Louise when pigtails got expelled, causing I’m all for transforming and going to cataclysming her.” Plagg said as Adrien laughed. _I guess I can’t expect any different from Plagg, he’s been saying to get rid of her for weeks! I had to hope she was acting that way like my mask for when I’m in public or around fat….Gabriel. I guess this finally proved once and for all where I stand with him, and somehow I feel lighter._ Adrien thought as he walked.

“The calling Louise, I mean I had hoped she was just telling stories thing because she was nervous and scared, I mean moving around so much I can understand that, it took me weeks to lighten up and start to be more than my mask at school.” Adrien said with a sigh. “And most of Chloe’s act is because she wants her mom to love her.”

“I’ll say once and I’ll say it again, that woman is a piece of work! I’ve seen a lot of people over the centuries but like her, always the worst of the worst.” Plagg said as he looked up at Adrien.

“Adrien there you are!” Chloe’s voice caused Adrien to turn and see her pounding towards him with Sabrina following behind her. “How the hell are we going to get Marinette un-expelled? This is ridiculous, completely ridicules!”

Adrien looked at Chloe as she started a tirade and frowned as what she was saying got through to him. “Wait, you want to help Marinette?”

“Of course! Nobody but nobody messes with Dunpain-Chang but me! 

And even I wouldn’t threaten her how Lila did!” Chloe said a huff as she looked up at the sky.

“What do you mean, threatened Marinette?! When did that happen?!” Adrien demanded as Chloe looked at him and Sabrina’s mouth dropped open.

“It was when she came back, she cornered Marinette and she felt so scared and Akuma was summoned but she fought it off!” Sabrina said causing Adrien to gasp at her.

“That’s where that Akuma came from, that’s how Lila was Akumatized, not because I talked to her?!” Adrien said with shock, stumbling backwards as he paled in horror. “God, I am the most idiotic person on the planet!”

“Sabrina saw her reach for it Adrien what are you…..What did you do?!” Chloe demanded as she saw him react to what she and Sabrina told him and started to grow worried, he had only acted like this when he had made what he thought was a mistake, like when he had given his mom flowers and she turned out to be allergic to them.

“I thought Lila’s emotions spiked because I talked to her about how she didn’t have to lie to get people to like her, not that she chased one down! I told Marinette to take the high road about her lies, I never knew…….” Adrien said as Chloe gasped and started to get mad and was about to explode when Sabrina spoke up.

“You thought she was so emotional that talking to her about her lies caused her to get on Hawkmoth’s radar?” Sabrina asked as Chloe looked at her then at Adrien with her mouth open.

“God, and you were worried that she’d attack anyone who called her out, did you at least explain that to Marinette?” Chloe asked only to sigh when Adrien hung his head. “Adrien!”

“I……. I knew she’d probably react like you guys are and I didn’t want to give Lila any ammunition to use, I’ve been trying to get her alone to talk to her about it but I haven’t been able to yet.” Adrien said miserably.

“Then go and talk to her now! And wait……. Don’t you have a photoshoot about now?” Chloe asked as she looked around, confused beyond words.

Adrien’s phone seemed to burn a hole into his leg and he looked at Chloe steadily. “I’m handling Marinette’s problems. And about the shoot, I walked off after I threw the other model there, Lila into the river!”

“What the hell was Lie-la doing there? And how are you handling what happened?” Chloe demanded as she looked at Adrien, fuming. _Why the heck did Gabriel get Lila to model if he wanted a new teen girl anyone would have been better, heck even Alya could do it!_ She thought as Adrien seemed to be struggling with something.

“I called Louise about it, he said that what the principal did wasn’t right…..and I told him to send off the notice to the Department of Child Services,” Adrien said as Chloe and Sabrina gasped and looked at him.

“Why I mean you should have done it months ago but why now?” Sabrina said, having been Chloe’s friend for years she knew Adrien at least superficially and this wasn’t like him.

“Lila did what she did because he told her to.” Adrien as they looked at him, not understanding what he was saying. “She said that the modeling thing is a bonus and that she thought how I tried to help Marinette was a _publicity stunt for the brand.”_

Chloe gasped a hand shooting to her mouth as she looked at him with shock, wondering what had driven Gabriel to do that. “I’m sorry Adrien, you know that there’s always a room at the hotel if you need it.”

“I’ve got a couch dad will be happy to lend you.” Sabrina said with a small smile.

“Yeah thanks, girls…..I’m meeting Louise at Marinette’s, do you want to come along as support?” Adrien asked and Chloe laughed.

“I can guess what’s going on, so I’ll do a little research and get back to you and Marinette later, good luck groveling to her.” Chloe said as she and Sabrina walked off. Adrien looked at her and shook his head, wondering if Marinette would forgive him for his mistake.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sabine sighed as she tried not to think about what had happened earlier today at school but she couldn’t. “Nothing about it makes sense, I mean I know my daughter, she’d never do this! And how Lila was still walking around after she was _pushed down the stairs_ , it doesn’t make sense!”

“Your right Sabine and the necklace looked like it could have fit through the grill on the locker and did any of them have locks on them at all? I thought Marinette said she only used hers for holding her coat during winter and projects?” Tom’s voice caused Sabine to turn and look at her husband as he brought a tray of bread out from the kitchen, the workers looking out as they all knew something was wrong with what happened.

“Yeah, boss I guess you can bring them up at the hearing right?” One of the cooks asked as he poked his head out of the back.

Sabine and Tom looked at each other, confusion in their eyes. _Did that idiot owl do something wrong when he expelled Marinette?_ Tom thought as he frowned. “What hearing?”

“The expulsion hearing, the one she has to have after her suspension is up. The one that by law all students are required to have before they're expelled?” The cook said in confusion and Tom stared at him.

“The principle said Marinette was expelled, that’s it, are you saying he did something wrong?” Sabine asked as she looked at him.

“That’s something I think I can help with!” A voice caused all of them to see Adrien standing behind a man in a brown business suit holding a briefcase in his right hand. “My name is Louis Artoga, attorney at law and I’d like to have a long talk with you about that if you don’t mind.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Marinette lay down on her bed and hugged one of her pillows as she tried to forget the look in Sentibug’s eyes when Mayura destroyed it…. _her_. That was something that will only haunt her for weeks if she’s lucky.

“How could she do it Tikki, I just can’t believe that she was even _able_ to do it.” Marinette said as she hugged her pillow.

“There have been people who have been bad holders, but I’ve never seen Duusu’s powers used that way.” Tikki said as she floated and looked at her chosen. “You gave the Amok the talisman that created her; Mayura _shouldn’t_ have been able to do it.”

“Why does that have to do with anything?” Marinette asked as she tried to understand Tikki.

“That should have broken the link to Mayura, she should have been fully independent….. I can’t explain it.” Tikki said as she floated there, not letting Marinette detect any of her thoughts. _The only way that could have been possible was if the M_ iraculous _itself was damaged, but Duusu wouldn’t have transformed then, it would have hurt her chosen._ Tikki thought as she watched Marinette try and deal with what she had seen happen earlier, some part of her glad she wasn’t thinking about how she had been expelled.

“Something to talk to Master Fu about then, I just want to forget everything happened today and deal with it tomorrow.” Marinette said before a knocking caused her to look at the door down and frown as Tikki hid. “It’s unlocked!” 

She didn’t know what she was expecting but when Adrien came into her room she stared in shock. “Adrien! Are what doing you here?”

Adrien looked at her and sighed. “I…..Marinette…. I called a friend of mine about what happened, he’s downstairs with your parents and I volunteered to come and get you. I told them I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes, I want to apologize first.”

“Apologize, Adrien what happened today wasn’t your fault at all, you tried to help but he wouldn’t listen.” Marinette said but stopped when Adrien shook his head.

“No, not that. The advice I gave you when Lila came back.” Adrien said as he hung his head. “Sabrina was in the bathroom too, she heard Lila threaten you and then the Akuma came at you…… while that was happening I was talking to Lila about her lies and she tried to ruin my life at school and my friendships after sooo.”

“You told me not to act against Lila because you thought she summoned a butterfly from you talking to her about her lies?” Marinette said in shock.

“I thought she had because before when I was talking to her about how she didn’t have to lie to get people to like her and she acted normal so……I’m sorry.” Adrien said as he looked away from Marinette and she just looked at him as she tried to understand just what Adrien had thought

“You gave me advice based on what you knew.” Marinette said after a few moments. “If I thought that way about someone I might have said the same to you.”

“Then?” Adrien asked as he felt a bit of hope.

“Apology accepted. So who’s downstairs?” Marinette said as she got up and walked towards Adrien who smiled at her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

“So she’s always been making clothing?” Louise asked as he drank a cup of tea and looked at Tom and Sabine as they sat in the living room.

“Clothing, blankets, odds and ends, it’s been her passion for years. She really blossomed when she started to look at fashion and started to design her own clothing really and make gifts for her friends.” Sabine said as she looked at Louise with a smile as she remembered her daughter’s antics. “Why I remember how she went and got a roll of blue wool to make a scarf for a present last year. But enough about that, you think you’ll be able to get the expulsion off her record?”

“If she really was expelled and not suspended, of course, it will barely be a problem. I’ll talk to the board of education and once I see the paperwork I’ll go from there, but there’s another subject that I need to talk to you about that I think I should wait until the kids are back to really start…..and here they are.” Louise said as he smiled as Marinette and Adrien walked into the room, Louise standing up and offering Marinette his hand. “Nice to meet you, mam, I’m Louise, Louis Artoga, attorney at law and I want to help you.”

“Help how?” Marinette asked as she and Adrien sat down after she shook his hand. Louise beamed at her and before he continued.

“I’d like to help you out, now fair warning. I have a goddaughter, a few years back she was bullied, badly enough that she tried to commit suicide. She didn’t succeed and she got the help she needed, she’s studying to be a social worker last I heard.” Louse began. “The people I blame are the teachers and the school, the same school that you go…..went to.”

“Mr. Damocles had something to do with it?!” Marinette asked with shock, going silent as Louise’s face started to go red.

“‘Damocles’?! An old man with a beard, bald, has a fixation with owls?! He’s the new principal!?” Louise screamed as he lunged to his feet.

“Louise?” Adrien’s voice caused Louise to look around the room and saw the looks on the other's face and he released a breath and sat down slowly.

“Sorry kid, he was the vice principal who let that bitch get away with everything back then. I thought he was blacklisted.” Louise said as he sat back down, and got out a cell phone that he put in in a holder he got out of his briefcase so the camera was pointed at her. “Start recording, this is Louise Artoga, recording a questioning of Marinette Dupain-Chang about her ‘expulsion’ from earlier today. As of right now, I ask her parents, Tom and Sabine Dupain-Chang their permission to do so. Also of note is that Adrien Agreste is here, as he was the person who told me about this incident.”

“I, Sabine Dupain-Chang give my permission that my child; Marinette Dupain-Chang may decide if she wishes to be questioned and recorded.” Sabine said formally.

“I, Tom Dupain-Chang give my permission that my child; Marinette Dupain-Chang may decide if she wishes to be questioned and recorded.” Tom said as he turned and looked at Marinette who smiled back.

“I, Marinette Dupain-Chang agree to be questioned and recorded about the events earlier today.” Marinette said as she looked at the camera.

“Thank you all, with that done the questioning shall begin. So, walk me through what happened.” Louise said as he looked at Marinette.

“Miss Bustier called me to the front of the room at the start of class and searched my backpack, the answer key was in it.” Marinette said and stopped as Louise held up a finger.

“Point of clarity what class was it with the order of classes on a normal day in number format and has your backpack been out of your sight for any length of time before that.” Louise said as he looked at Marinette.

“It was the first class of the day, as we had a test yesterday so I hadn’t looked at my backpack since then……..and my backpack was out of my sight because someone pulled the fire alarm yesterday and everyone evacuated, most taking their backpacks as it was the end of class and they were getting ready to leave. As the class Representative I had collected the tests and had just put them on Miss Bustier’s desk with the alarm went off and we all evacuated.” Marinette said as she thought about yesterday.

“Why were you called to the front?” Louise asked, a frown forming on his face as he went over what he knew about proper classroom behavior for teachers.

“Miss Bustier said that someone had given an anomalous note that someone had seen me steal the answer sheet and put it into my bag.” Marinette said as and stopped as Louise held up a hand.

“She didn’t call you outside the classroom?” Louise asked in shock.

“No, after that I accused Lila of taking and putting it in my backpack to frame me and Madame Bustier sent both of us to the principal’s office.” Marinette answered as she looked at

“Point of clarity, why did you believe that Lila is a liar?” Louise asked and Marinette went silent. 

“If it’s just what you believe about her it's fine, sometimes we get feelings we can’t explain but please clarify your belief.”

Marinette looked at Adrien before she hardened her eyes. “I know Lila is a liar and a thief. A few months ago when she first came back I saw her take a book from Adrien, buy something at a store and throw the book into the trash so he wouldn’t see her with it.” Marinette said causing Adrien to stare at her.

“A book, my father’s book, the one that he took me out of school for losing, Lila was the one who lost it?! You were the person who brought it back?!” Adrien exclaimed as he looked at her before blushing and turning away as everyone looked at him.

“Yes, and I was in passing by the park when Ladybug confronted her about her lies. I was going to give it back to you the next day and tell you that you dropped it in the Library but then, well your father pulled you from school.” Marinette said as she hung her head. “So after I saw that I had enough skepticism not to trust everything she said at face value.”

“We’ll talk about that later, what happened next with Lila today?” Louise asked as Marinette looked at him.

“I told Lila that she wouldn’t win, that I wouldn’t fall for any of her traps and she said I did and then she walked down the stairs, sat down and made a commotion about how I had pushed her down the stairs. ” Marinette replied as Louise tried to keep his temper down.

“Point of interest, at no time were any of the cameras that the school is required to have had checked at all? And what about this Lila’s mother, was she contacted and was she sent to the nurse at least?” Louise inquired, his eyes twitching a little as Marinette shook her head.

“They never checked and she wasn’t sent, they all just followed after Lila to my locker, a locker I only use to hold my coats and projects since none of all have a lock on them. ” Marinette said as Louise nodded at her. “And they contact my parents but Lila’s was unable to be reached, they left five messages as far as I know.”

“Thank you Miss Marinette; that’s all I’ll need for this case, I will bring around paperwork that basically says the sequence of events that you explained and have yourself and you’re parents sign them and that should be it. This has been Louise Artoga, recording Madame Marinette Dupain-Chang.” Louise said as he turned off the phone’s camera and picked it up and started to look over the file, they could hear the sounds of Louise or Marinette’s voice and he nodded. “Thank you that should be all I need. With this and Adrien’s matter, I think I’ll have a good few days of work to do. Now on your case, once I get to the board of education I think everything should be straightened out, but it might be best to wait a day, just so it’s not been filed as a suspension and it was the heat of the moment and all, if nothing comes tomorrow then I’ll move in. And now let’s talk about Lila, with the video a Miss Sabrina has I think we could sue her for slander and making that threat.”

Marinette gulped and looked at her father and mother who both went still and turned towards her as what Louise said penetrated their brains. Louise winced as he realized that she hadn’t told her parents the same time as Adrien did and they both winced at what.

“What threat?” Tom asked quietly as Marinette just looked at the table and stayed silent.

“Who threatened my daughter!?” Sabine asked as Adrien looked up and motioned to Louise to let him talk.

“It’s a long story, but may I can explain if Marinette lets me. ” Adrien said prompting Marinette to nod at him. “From what I found out Lila corned Marinette in a bathroom the day she came back and threatened to take away all her friends and after that, I gave her advice to take the high road, not confront Lila about her lying.”

“Why did you tell Marinette not to confront her after she threatened my daughter? ” Sabine asked coldly as Adrien looked down ashamed.

“Because I thought Lila summoned the Akuma that _got her_ from my talk with her. And her first actions as a shape-shifter was to try and ruin my social life! I didn’t want to think what would happen if she summed one when she wanted to hurt Marinette as the trigger!” Adrien explained as he held his hands up. “Of course idiot that I was I didn’t explain it, I didn’t want to take a chance that Marinette would get hurt, I never knew about the threat!”

“Oh, so you were trying to protect her but didn’t know about she had been threatened. ” Sabine said as Tom’s rage died down and he understood _why_ Adrien had done what he did. 

“Kid was raised to ignore lies the tabloids said, do it and they die, like Tinkerbell, don’t act out and they die. ” Louise said with a sigh. Tom looked at Marinette as his wife hugged her and frowned. 

“Wait, you _thought Lila had summoned the Akuma?_ But wait if she didn’t summon it ….then who did?” Tom asked and Adrien went wide eyes and looked around, trying to find anything to say when Marinette spoke up.

“Me. ” Marinette said softly from within her mother’s arms causing Sabine to look down at her daughter as she closed her eyes. “I was so scared she could do it. She had them eating out of her hands, she even conviced Max that a thrown napkin could have taken out his eye and he wears glasses!”

“I can’t even, I don’t even know where to…..just I can’t…. is she serious?” Louise asked as looked at Adrien in shock and when Adrien nodded as Marinette’s parents comforted her Louis sat there stunned. _Okay, getting that bitch sued is gonna be a public service and probably improve the intelligence of all those kids!_ Louise thought as he hung his head in disgust.

“Ohhhh Marinette, I’m sorry that we never noticed how you were feeling! I should have, I don’t know!” Sabine said as she hugged Marinette and before suddenly she went still. “And those idiots at that school never even noticed, no they didn’t want to see!”

“Kid, I don’t know but after the paperwork’s filed maybe you should look for a different school. ” Louise said into the table as he put his head on it.

“Wait, why would Adrien look for a different school? After all that he did to make it into school in the first place…..and what paperwork?” Marinette asked as Louise looked up at her before paling as he realized what he had let slip. Adrien spoke up and caused all of them to look at him.

“I’m suing my father for not paying me for my work, the contracts I never signed, and emotional abuse while going for emancipation or having myself removed from his control.” Adrien said flatly. “The fact that he might have told Lila to do that, that he gave her a modeling contract and might have even hinted that I might be a prize to her, it’s too much, he crossed a line I didn’t even know I had.”

“Oh Adrien, I’m sorry you were pushed to do this.” Marinette said as she looked at him as her parents looked on with concern, knowing from their interactions with him that he probably hadn’t wanted to do this but felt he had to.

“I thought he was going around, that we had started to heal our relationship, especially after my birthday when I got that scarf from him.” Adrien said as closed his eyes.

Louse went still when he saw Marinette wince, things connecting in his mind that didn’t paint a good picture. _Please, please don’t tell me._ He thought with a sinking feeling as he asked what he didn’t want to. “Scarf, what scarf?”

“A blue scarf that dad made with his own hands, I thought that maybe he was trying and……… what is it?” Adrien asked as he saw Sabine and Tom exchange a look and turn to Marinette who looked down as Louise held his head.

“Adrien, do you have any picture of it?” Tom asked as he turned to look at Adrien as he started to get a sinking feeling. 

“Yeah, I did a selfie with Nino a few days after I got it and here it is.” Adrien said as he pulled up the photo and turned it around and Tom sighed and Sabine closed her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Ask your friend kid, ask her.” Louise said around his hands and he turned to Marinette, who looked up,

“I made it.” Marinette said softly. “When you came to school so happy that you thought that he had put the effort into making it by hand, I couldn’t take that from you...”

Adrien stared at her and he saw red, the sheer gull of what his father….what _Gabriel_ had done causing him to lose focus and he felt so dizzy.

“Adrien, Adrien are you okay?” Sabine asked as she got up and Adrien shot to his feet as he held his hands to his mouth. “Oh hell. Tom! Open the door!”

“Got it, Marinette help you mother!” Tom said as he shot up and opened a door as Marinette and Sabine guided Adrien to the room which was revealed to be a bathroom. 

Louise just sat there and shook his head and winced as he heard Adrien throw up in the bathroom and he knew he would have to mention this to the social worker. _Maybe it would be better to do it here, Nathalie wouldn’t look for him here and whoever they send could be in plain clothing and get around his eyes._ Louise thought as he looked at Tom and Sabine watch the door as Marinette rushed to the kitchen to get a glass of water. 

“Tom, Sabine would you two mind if I called the social worker I sent the email to and have them come here, it might be helpful for Adrien.”

“Please, the boy needs to know that not everyone is against him and what Gabriel did, I can’t even imagine.” Tom said as Louise smiled and sent off a text.

“It’s taking all I have not to get my staff and go beat him up!” Sabine bit out as she glared towards the Agreste mansion. “To have that little bitch hurt my daughter, but to have sold his son?!”

“I’m tempted to get a sledgehammer and join you.” Louise said with a sigh as he shook his head. His phone buzzed and he looked down and up at Tom and Sabine. “The Agent is nearby, and would like to get an initial statement from him, there are already a few red flags based on the paperwork and well, she wants to meet soon.”

Tom and Sabine shared a look at each other and looked at the bathroom and after a few minutes looking at each other Sabine knocked on the door.

“Adrien, are you okay? The agent from child Services texted Louise, they want to meet soon. If you’re not up for it there’s nothing wrong with waiting.” Sabine said before they heard a toilet flush and the door open to reveal Adrien whipping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“No, I want to get this done with and close off any chance of that monster from getting around this.” Adrien said as he clenched his hands. _I thought you were just hard to understand and had a hard time with emotions but this, dad this is the last freaking straw!_ Adrien thought as he tried to get his emotions back under control. He felt Plagg press against him and hide a smile. _If I didn’t have Plagg, Chloe and my lady to help me, I don’t know what I would be. Probably broken beyond all points by now, if I didn’t have Plagg and my lady to inspire me I wouldn’t have snuck out on that second day to school._ Adrien thought as he accepted a cup of water from Marinette and smiled at her before he drank it, not seeing her blush or her parent's grin as Louise chuckled at the byplay.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay I think I’ve got maybe 2-3 chapters of this left before it’s done and I really like how much you all have Favored or read it! I will have an announcement when the next chapter of this and my other works are ready so for now enjoy this chapter and this is the calm before the storm. / reuploaded 10/30

“He did what?” Gabriel asked as Nathalie looked at him from the other side of his desk.

“He threw Lila into the river, walked off and turned his cell off afterwards. I have no idea where he went and already called his friends and Chloe isn’t being helpful, she said something about a movie and she’ll talk to Adrien latter and her phone was off.” Nathalie said as she looked at Gabriel. Gabriel just look back out he tried to understand what he had just heard, Nooroo was hovering above him and looked on and shot Nathalie a wince as he felt the confusion change to rage.

“Find him now! When he gets back here I’m going to…..I can’t even! Clearly he’s been around the degenerates at that school of his too much, I want you to pull him now, if he’s not at a shoot I want him in here!” Gabriel snarled as he pounded the desk. _What is wrong with that boy, I’ve tried to raise him right but he does this, what is the matter with him!?_ He thought as he looked at Nathalie with an angry look in his eyes and as Nooroo hovered above him. “Did Lila say anything about why he did it or did he just snap or lose all sense of pride from being around those _children_ in his class?”

“Lila told him about how you talked to her about getting Marinette Dupain-Cheng away from him, how you rewarded her with the contract.” Nathalie said as Gabriel stared at her.

“Didn’t you mention that she wasn’t to speak about that at all Nathalie?” Gabriel asked as Nathalie nodded and Gabriel face palmed in response and groaned.

“Yes, but I guess she just decided to gloat to get him on board.” Nathalie said as Gabriel kneed his noise, understanding finally why Adrien had done what he had.

“I never should have made a plan like this; I should have never started to even talk to her after she broke into the mansion.” Gabriel said as Nooroo looked down at him with anger in his eyes. Nooroo had tried to caution him against using Lila, something about her made even him feel dirty just hearing her speak. _She helped me set up the attack on Heroe’s day and I suppose she had her uses. Still with the lies she’s told about Dupain-Cheng, that should have clued me in, I knew Adrien wouldn’t like Lila but for her to actually say she did it for me is something I wasn’t expecting. Of course when I talk to Adrien I can pass it off as believe her that this Marinette sexually harassed him and was trying to use him. That I acted is because he never told me otherwise, my thoughts that he didn’t because he didn’t want to be pulled from school, yes fatherly conern might work here._ Gabriel thought as he tried to figure out where Adrein could be. Looking up he frowned as he saw Nathalie holding her tablet tight against her body and the look in her eyes told him there was something else. “What else happened Nathalie, what did you leave out?”

Nathalie looked at him and released a breath. “Gabriel, I…… he said something before he walked off….. it shocked me enough that I lost him.”

“What could he have said that would let him get away?” Gabriel asked with a scowl.

“He said that he was glad she’s gone.” Nathalie said as she tried to keep calm as Gabriel turned to her with a scowl.

“What are you talking about, glad who’s gone?” Gabriel demanded as he looked at her. Nathalie looked away before turning and swallowing.

“Emilie.” Nathalie said as he went still and turned to look at her, not sure he had heard her right.

“What did you say?” Gabriel asked, aghast that Adrien had said something like that. “He said what about Emilie?”

“He said that he’s glad she’s gone, that he has memories of a good person and not someone who could love a monster like you’ve become.” Nathalie said. “Gabriel, I think….. I think he’s going to do something.”

“Master, perhaps you went too far.” Nooroo said soflty as he floated and Gabriel spared him a glance before shaking his head.

“No, the plan was perfect and each step was planned perfectly. As my other persona I talked to Lila and helped her plan every step of it, all in all a mass Akuma attack was supposed to happen. It was perfect; Lila didn’t know that there were two ways it to go down, one where Dupain-Cheng was the trigger and the other where she was.” Gabriel said as Nathalie looked at him

“Two ways, what are you talking about Gabriel?” Nathalie asked as Nooroo floated there and felt horror as he realized just what Gabriel had planned.

“Both girls of course, each one was a potential trigger for a mass attack. The first was for the feelings of doubt and shock of Miss Dupain-Cheng being suspended; of course I never thought that the principle would have expelled her.” Gabriel admitted as he looked at Nathalie and she was shocked to see a hint of guilt in his eyes. “I thought that at least that man would be professional about his job, it seems that I thought more of him and that homeroom teacher then they deserve.”

“Then the second was Lila, but how…..wait you WANTED HER TO FAIL?” Nathalie exclaimed as Gabriel grinned back at her.

“Yes, if that idiot in charge had looked at the CCTV camera’s that record the school hallways let alone the courtyard, which there are four of them and one of them was right above the principal’s office by the way, then Lila’s lies would have been exposed at once.” Gabriel explained what Lila didn’t know about the plan. Nathalie looked at her boss with an impressed look and Nooroo stared aghast at the betrayal Gabriel had planned.

“So if she was found to have been behind it all, then Lila’s lies would have all been revealed, and that would have been the second way, brilliant!” Nathalie said with a chuckle. “But what about Miss Dupain-Cheng, how does she factor in?”

“She was to be the ace in the plan; she got away from me enough times that I’m sure I could finally craft a champion of such power she would have finally gotten me my prize.” Gabriel said as he looked at her and frowned. “But I have to admit that I never planned for Miss Dunpain-Chang to be a victim to this extent.”

“And by what you said about the teachers there, you expected them to actually do their jobs properly?” Nathalie asked with a deadpan look.

“Yes, I have to say that this has destroyed any faith I have in the public school system. I plan to send a special email to the school board with an unaltered copy of the CT footage, say that I’m a hacker who looked into Lila because of something I read online and saw her true colors. She was stupid enough to even get caught on camera taking the answer sheet.” Gabriel said and Nathalie laughed a little at her stupidity.

“So then what about this Miss…… Dupain-Chang master, what will happen to her?” Nooroo asked as he looked down at Gabriel with a hint of hope in his eyes as he looked at his wielder.

“Dunpain-Chang Nooroo, and I expect that her record will be cleared, an investigation will be launched against that school that might end with it closing or a few people black listed and that this will be a perfect chance to bring Adrien back to homeschool, but I think I’ll let him keep his social life as it is, maybe let up his extracurricular activities.” Gabriel said as he looked at Nathalie who looked up and started to type away at her tablet. “Perhaps a program with group projects, yes if I share them with some of the parents of Adrien’s friends that might earn some forgiveness from him about this, and if I explain that Lila tricked me, he might forgive me.”

Nathaile looked at him and bit her lip as she looked away, something was telling her that this wouldn’t be as easy as he thought it would, a beeping from her tablet caused her to look down and frown as she saw someone knocking on the mansion’s doors, she frowned when she noticed he was wearing a suit. “There’s someone here Gabriel, did I forget to pencil in an appointment?”

“No, I can’t think of anything that would be handled with a face to face.” Gabriel said as he looked at Nathalie who looked back for a few moments before she sighed and looked down at her tablet and typed a few keys

“Who are you and why are you here?” Nathalie said through her tablet and the man looked up at the camera that came out of the gate and frowned.

“I have to speak with Gabriel Agreste in person, I’m sorry but I can’t talk anything more and I won’t leave.” He said and Nathalie looked at Gabriel who shrugged and frowned back at her.

“Please wait there, I will get back to you in five.” Nathalie said as she muted her tablet and turned to Gabriel. “Well now what, any idea what this could be?”

“None at all.” Gabriel looked at the camera’s image and looked at Nathalie. “A reporter after a scoop, a new customer that wanted a personal meeting, remember how that person came to the mansion last year?”

Nathalie looked down at the screen and looked back at Gabriel. “He doesn’t seem to be a reporter, I have a…….. _feeling_ that this is important.”

“Very well.” Gabriel said as he got up from his desk and walked towards the door out, Nathalie following behind him and Nooroo hiding in is clothing. “Let him in, we’ll see what he has to say.”

A few moments later the man walked into the mansion and meet Gabriel and Nathalie in the foyer.

“Gabriel Agreste?” The man said as he went to Nathalie’s desk and opened his briefcase.

“I don’t know who you all but I assure you I don’t want anything that you have. I will give you a few minutes of my time but I want you gone.” Gabriel said as the man smiled at him.

“This will only take a moment, Gabriel Agreste you have been served.” The man said as he put a stack of papers and dropped them onto the desk. “You are cordially informed that you are now under investigation by the Child Protection Agency of France for violating the Child Labor Laws, and you are being sued by one Adrien Agreste for work without pay. Have a nice day.” The man said as he dropped a few forms on the desk before he nodded at them and he turned and walked out the mansion, a spring in his step. As he walked out of the mansion’s grounds he hummed as he turned towards his home, a smirk on his face as he remembered the look Gabriel had when he heard why he was there. “I just love to deliver to those people; I just love this part of my job.”

Nathalie looked at Gabriel as he stood there and stared down at the papers on his desk and sighed. “I knew he would do something, I just knew it. And I knew that one day you would push him too far!”

Gabriel looked at Nathalie with a scowl on his face. “I don’t need that from you now Nathalie.”

“Well you’re going to get it Gabriel!” Nathalie said as she looked at him with a frown on her face as Nooroo floated back in from where he had hidden. “I’m here to help you but I’ve said it before that all the modeling work will come back and bite you one day.”

“He is my son. I have the right to have him work for me!” Gabriel said as he looked at her and she shook his head. “And I can’t think of anything that he had done that violated any of the laws, he’s working for the family business!”

“The keyword there is _work_ Gabriel, _work!_ I’m not a law specialist so I don’t know ,but maybe if could be how long he does it is and how you pull him from school; people could make a problem about them and there are laws about child labor which Adrien’s work qualifies as! And what are we to do, Hawkmoth attacked today and failed, if you make one to find Adrien then people will talk!” Nathalie said as Gabriel looked at her and nodded.

“Contact my lawyer, I want him to investigate who’s behind this! And go check out the hotel, he has to be there!” Gabriel said as Nathalie walked away. “Oh, and the video’s with Lila actions, use one of the throwaway accounts, the videos are in file EM02 password 3, and send it to Miss Dunpain-Chang.”

“What, after all this you want to….” Nathalie said turning her head but trailed of as Gabriel looked at her.

“It’s imperative that my crusade doesn’t destroy a life, if Emile finds out about this and that I didn’t try and fix it……..then I’ll be the one needing the wish.” Gabriel said as Nathalie chuckled and nodded. “And it might make any meetings with Adrien easier if I’m surprised by anything he says about Lila, I might be able to make him believe I was tricked by her.”

“Throwing her under the bus then?” Nathalie asked dryly.

“I always planned to one day.” Gabirl said as he looked at his wife’s painting. “Nooroo didn’t like her, and my feelings about him aside, that’s saying something.”

“Respectfully Master,” Nooroo piped up. “I’ve felt people who were insane or psychotic that were less slimy then she is.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The caseworker looked at the doors to the apartment portion of the bakery and swallowed. _Okay, keep it together Sophia, you’ve done cases like this before, but it’s your first time in the city since Hawkmoth but you can do it._ She thought as she slapped her checks and put a smile on and walked towards the door and knocked and a large strong looking man with a mustache opened it, causing her to swallow and look up at him. “Hello, I’m Sophia from the Child Welfare Origination; I’m supposed to be meeting Adrien here?”

“Yes, come in quick.” The large man said as he ushered her in. “I’m Tom Dupain-Chang, Adrien is upstairs in the living room up those stairs, my wife Sabine and my Daughter Marinette is there providing support, I ‘d love to stay but I need to get back to work, the dinner rush should be soon and I have to make sure everything is working right.” Tom said as he head back towards the front of the store as the woman swallowed and walked up the stairs, psyching herself up as she went.

Walking into the kitchen she saw Adrien sitting down at a table with a glass of water in his hands and Marinette looking at him as he talked as Louise and Sabine talked quietly by the window.

“….really, I don’t know why I thought he would have taken the time to make it, I was grasping at straws to save our relationship. I must be the most idiotic person on the planet. I should have reported him months ago.” Adrien said as Marinette reached over and squeezed his arm.

“You wanted to think there was a way to salvage something from your relationship with him, I mean I get that. I’m just sorry I never told you that I made it.” Marinette said as she looked at his eyes and he smiled back and squeezed her hand back as Sabine giggled and Louise grinned before looking up as Sophia walked into the room.

“So you made it, you’re the agent the Child welfare Agency sent?” Louise asked as the other three looked up at Sophia who grinned shakily back.

“Yes, hello. I’m Sophia, I was sent to do a preliminary interview. I understand who the two woman are but who are you sir?” Sophia asked casuing Louise to smile and hold out his hand for her to shake.

“Sorry, I’m Louise, Louse Artoga, Adrien’s attorney. I believe that Tom told you who these ladies are of course.” Louise said as he gestured towards Sabine and Marinette who nodded at her as Adrien looked up.

“Yes, I met Tom before he directed me here. Now normally I prefer to have my meetings private affairs with only the person and an adult who’s on their side, but in this case.” Sophia said as she looked at Sabine and Marinette and Adrien looked up for a few seconds before speaking up.

“I’d like them to stay, at least for moral support.” Adrien said as he looked down.

“That’s perfectly fine, but if you mind walking me through a normal day, a normal day as your father would have you do.” Sophia asked as she sat down at the table and opened her briefcase and brought a few piece of blank paper out a pencil and her phone that she put down after activating a recording app.

“I get up around six in the morning and do stretches and exercises until around six thirty, after that I shower until around seven when I practice the piano until around seven thirty when I have free time until eight when I have breakfast and am driven to school at eight fifteen.” Adrien said as Sophia started to take notes. 

“What about your father, do you see him in the morning?” Sophia asked and Adrien shook his head as she took notes.

“No, the only person I see is Nathalie most days…oh, she’s my dad’s assistant and then there’s my bodyguard/driver the Gorilla. Oh, the Gorilla’s name is Damien.” Adrien said as he looked down and missed the look of rage that went through Sophia’s eyes as Marinette squeezed her hands as Sabine growled under her breath as Louise watched with a blank face. “Sometimes I get to school for afternoon class if there’s a photo shoot in the morning, sometimes I don’t even make it to school at all and then if I get back around five I have supper alone again and practice the piano for an hour or my Chinese tutor comes for the same time, if there’s a photo shoot in the afternoon I work and grab supper between shots until I’m taken back to the mansion ussualy around nine or ten.”

“What about when you do make it to school?” Sophia asked as she wrote down what Adrien said and tried to keep calm. “What are your days like then?”

“I have ordinary classes and at lunch I’m drive home where I eat and stay in my room before I return to school. When classes end I go to fencing practice when it’s scheduled, I have Mandarin lessons or piano practice if a photo shoot isn’t scheduled and I have an ordinary evening, I have dinner alone and have a few hours of free time in my room before I go to sleep.” Adrien explained. Sophia looked at him and tried to keep her cool, the shear amount of time he had working was bothering her, and the way he spoke raised a few flags that only increased her concern.

“How much time do you think you spend with your father, regularly?” Sophia asked and Adrien looked at her and started to think for a few more moments then Sophia was comfortable with.

“Every few days he checks on my progress at the piano and Mandarin, and maybe I’ll have dinner with him maybe once a month or so…….” Adrien said as he shrugged.

“A day.” Sophia interrupted him and he looked at her. “How much time do you spend with him a day, in person?”

“Normally none in his presence, he’ll check on me through Nathalie’s tablet and I don’t know if he watches me on the cameras but I know there aren’t any in my room so that’s out.” Adrien said as he tried to think. “So maybe I see if in person about an hour a month, total? There was the time we watch that movie mom stared in once but that’s not normal.”

“Thank you, but there’s something else.” Sophia said as she looked at him and softened her gaze. “I’m sorry to pick at wounds but you said something when I came in, could you explain it please?”  
  


Adrien looked at her before looking around and when Louise nodded he sighed. “Okay, my last birthday I thought dad made me a scarf by hand, but I was told an hour ago that Marinette made and he just, stole it from her and took credit for it.”

Sophia looked at him and hung her head. _Okay, that plus how little time he spends with him that’s emotional abuse. And the way he does his modeling, that violates the Child Labor laws right there and I haven’t even gotten to the weekends yet._ She thought as s he looked at her notes.

“Okay I think that’s everything for now, I would say that you should stay away from your school for the next two days since it’s almost the weekend, by then we’ll have gone over the case and I think we’ll be moving to have your father’s people served with a restraining order.” Sophia said as she put her papers away. “Miss Marinette I have to ask that you don’t tell anyone

“That’s going to be easy since I was expelled today.” Marinette said and Sophia turned and stared at her in shock.

“I’m sorry that whatever happened caused the hearing to decided that was best, I…..” Sophia trailed off as Sabine growled and Marinette gained a bitter look.

“I didn’t have a hearing, I was just expelled because Lila said I pushed her down the courtyard stairs to the next floor, I **stole** the answer key to the test after the test was over and that I stole her grandmother’s necklace the day before and kept it in my locker overnight.” Marinette said as Sophia looked at her before turning to the others and stared aghast at them.

“That all happened today?! What the hell kind of school is it, the Idiot School for Total Inaptitude?! Don’t they have CT camera’s there?!” Sophia demanded in shock that gave way to rage. “And you have to have to have a hearing, what did they decided not to do their jobs or something?!”

Adrien stared at Sophia and swallowed as she glared at the room. _She’s gonna be Akumatized, how can I get her to calm down?!_ Adrien thought as Sabine had flashbacks to what happened to her husband and Louise looked ill as he realized what was happening before him. but before they could do more than react Marinette did first.

Marinette got up and slapped Sophia’s face. Sophia just looked at Marinette shocked, her anger dissipated and tried to speak but Marinette spoke over her. “Look at me, Look at me! Deep breaths, in and out, in and out. We don’t want to summon an Akuma don’t we?”

Sophia looked at her and did as she was told, slowly getting herself back under control. “Thank you, I….needed that but please don’t do that again. But how’d you know how to do that?”

“Max thought that once maybe a shock could stop someone from feeling what call them. Smart guy, great programmer but he didn’t catch an obvious lie.” Marinette said as she looked at Sophia who raised an eyebrow.

“What kind of lie was it?” Sophia asked as she looked between the two teens, hoping that something was

“A thrown school napkin could have gorged his eye out, and he wears glasses.” Adrien said flatly.

“Really?” Sophia asked as she looked around and Marinette nodded. “And this Max, he’s…..smart?”

“Nobody seems to be where Lila’s concerned. The school believed her enough to have me expelled right away and didn’t even let me say anything in my defense.” Marinette said as she shook her head.

“And she threatened Marinette when she got ‘back’ a week after Hero’s day.” Adrien said as he glared into space.

“Got back from where?” Sophia asked and felt something, a feeling of disappointment that she couldn’t explain.

“She said that she was traveling with her mother, and she says she’s a diplomat.” Marinette said as she looked at Sophia. “Of course the first day that she appeared in Paris she became an Akuma that could do illusions and then the fake Chat Noir and Ladybug, well.”

“How do you know that?” Adrien said suddenly as he looked at her and saw her jolt and realize he was there and winced before she sighed.

“I told you I saw Lila take your book and throw it away, what I didn’t say was that it was opned to a page of a superhero.” Marinette said and wrung her hands. “I was interested so I looked through it and I saw the fox hero and pictures of what I thought were illusions so I put two and two together and then the meteor. And then there’s how I said that I found the missing book to you’re father so he and well.” Marinette said with a shrug.

“Thank you Marinette, because of you doing that I was let back into school.” Adrien said and Sophia went still before turning towards him.

“What do you mean, ‘back intp school’?” Sophia demanded as she suddenly realized what he had just said.

“I found this book in a hidden safe one day while I was looking around my father’s office after Hero’s Day; I wanted to see if he was free to talk about a school trip next month. He wasn’t there but I found this book I took to school, I ‘lost it’ or Lila took it and father pulled me from school to punish me.” Adrien said and Sophia stared.

Sophia looked into space as she tried to understand just what she had heard. _Okay, that’s a strange punishment and maybe it could be argued a ‘legal’ one. But it was…..wait when did he say the trip is?!_ Sophia thoughts died and she looked at Adrien.

“Wait, just wait!” Sophia said as she held up a hand. “This was after Hero’s Day, but that was months ago…..you had to talk to your father months before a school trip so you could go?”

“Well he prioritizes the company image over everything else, and he pulled me from school for loosing it.” Adrien said as he blushed. “He said it was important, that mom and he had found it years ago, not that he ever told me about it. all my father said when he let me go back to school was a friend had found it and returned it to him, that was you Marinette?”

“Yeah, but that meteor appeared before I could work up my courage to tell you about what Lila did.” Marinette explained as she looked away with a blush on her face. “So I figured I’d give it back to you in the morning and when you were pulled from school I went to your house and told your father it dropped out of your bag and I had seen you with it earlier so I figured it was his.”

“Wait, wait a second we’ve gone off tangent here, what was the threat?” Sophia asked as she mentally decided to look into this Lila.

“That she would take away all my friends and ruin my life, and she got me expelled.” Marinette said softly as she looked down, trying not to let her face show her emotions about what had happened earlier today.

“She admitted that she did it too, all so my father would give her a modeling contract as a bonus.” Adrien said as he looked at Marinette and felt something at the back of his mind, something was bothering his subconscious, he didn’t know what but something was there. “I knew she was a liar but I didn’t want to expose her, I thought she was just a liar who would get tangled up in her lies or was just lonely from traveling with her mother and wanted people to like her.”

“Well if you didn’t know about the threat kid, then I doubt anyone could blame you for hoping she was just nervous, I’ve seen kids do strange things to get people to like them. Still she just gave that one threat once right?” Louise said as everyone looked at Marinette and she looked down as Sabine gasped and Adrien looked horrified as Sophia broke her pencil. “Marinette, what else did she do.”

“That day she came back, at the end of the day….. She went up to me at the stairs and said we were at war, that she would ruin me and that Adrien would be….hers.” Marinette said as she as looked down, Sabine stared and started to curse in Mandarin and Adrien tried not to show that he knew what she was saying, but he noticed that Marinette’s blush deepened and wondered if she knew what her mother was saying.

A beeping from Marinette’s phone caused everyone to look at her as she blushed and took her phone out and paled. Marinette stared at the screen and tried to figure out what this meant and who could have sent this. _Max, Markov did you two send this…..no that’s not their style. Who knew to look and why……Hawkmoth but why would he…..nothing about this makes sense, I have more questions than answers and I don’t like this one bit! I need to talk to Master Fu about this._ Marinette thought and looked up as she felt someone touch her shoulder and saw her mother look at her with concern on her face.

“What’s wrong darling, what’s on your phone?” Sabine asked as she took it and looked down before scowling. “What!? ‘Lila stealing and framing Marinette?!”

“What’d you say?!” Louise demanded as he rushed towards Sabine and Marinette as Adrien and Sophia shot to their feet. Louise looked around and saw the TV in the room and looked at Sabine. “That’s a smart TV, you can cast the video to it right?”

Sabine nodded and they all turned to the TV and Sabine played the video. The first thing was a blank screen that said ‘This is from the school CT cameras’ and then Miss Buister class leaving the room with a small timestamp in the right corner showing that it happened the day before at the last class of the day and Adrien went still.

“That’s when the fire alarm went off.” Adrien said as everyone on screen left the class room through the courtyard door and then Lila came in from the other doorway and grabbed a paper from Miss Buister’s desk and dash to Marinette’s bag and put the paper in it before she ran after the class.

“Well there’s the answer about how it got into my backpack.” Marinette said dumbly as the video continued and it showed Lila walking down the stairs with Marinette staying by Mr. Damocles door before Lila sat down at the bottom and starting to scream. “And then she led the way to my locker where she opened it and there was her necklace.”

“Why was it unlocked?” Sophia asked as Sabine went over and squeezed Marinette’s hand and she looked at her mother with a smile before replying.

“The lockers don’t have locks, something about something that happened a few years back when I asked about it.” Adrien said and Sophia only face palmed and Louise looked murderous. A chocking gasp came from Sabine and they turned to the mother and daughter to see Marinette raise a shaking finger and they saw the TV had showed Lila dropping something into Marinette’s locker, the image being enhanced to show the fox tailed necklace. “Well, I didn’t know there were camera’s in the locker room, did you Marinette?”

“No I didn’t, and I was class president.” Marinette said dumbly as she looked at the screen. “And the time stamp showed it was from before 1st period when she said I had the answer key in my backpack.”

“Wait I’m not following this, she said you pushed her down the stairs? And the nurse backed her?” Sophia asked and Sabine scowled as Marinette looked down.

“They never even had the nurse examine Lila.” Adrien said dryly causing Sophia to look at her before she face palmed.

“I think that the lawsuit against the school for malpractice is open and shut, don’t you?” Louise said as Sophia banged her head against the table as she realized just what she had seen and cursed under her breath, knowing that the school system was the thing that would be affected the most before the end, and that she might want to start setting up a the paperwork for homeschooling for a whole school.

Moments later Sophia looked at Louis and Sabine as the three of them stood at the doorway to the alley. “That was a very good meeting in my opinion. I have to be honest….a lot of red flags were raised by the office when his mother disappeared and this just adds to them. I guess that you have the legal paperwork and evidence against his father?”

“Yeah, a lot but I became Adrien’s lawyer because of something his mother did so **he** will know what I’m doing once he’s served. Sabine would your family mind putting him up for a few days? I can rush the paperwork that would make you his temporary guardian in a court outside of Paris tomorrow.” Louis said as he looked at Sabine who nodded back at him.

“Ahhhh, that scenario then.” Sophia said with a wince.

“Yes, I’m sorry but that protocol, his situation is exactly what it was set up for.” Louise said as Sabine looked between them and he noticed it and looked a little….embarrassed. “It’s a law that was set up after a rich abusive parent bribe the location out of a clerk who fell for their lies and the result was that they attacked the foster home while drunk.”

“Oh my.” Sabine said as she looked between Sophia and Louise as Sophia blushed.

“Thankfully no one beside the drunk idiot was hurt.” Louise said with a smirk and a laugh. “And he was hurt by driving his car into a wall!”

“Oh my. I guess he lost custady after all then?” Sabine asked as Sophia blushed and Louis laughed before he started to look just disappointed.

“Yeah, but that’s not the most funny story about my work I have to share. Why the number of idiotic things people will do, I can’t even say that I’m surprised by anything anymore.” Louis saide with a sigh as he shook his head.

  
“That’s nither here or there. As an agent of the Child Protection Services of France I give my leave to allow Adrien Agrest to stay here overnight legally. We’ll look over the case and come to a decision but I will be putting together the paperwork to remove him from his father’s guidance tomorrow at the earliest.”

As both Louis and Sophia left through the back alley entrance Sabine looked upwards and sighed as she moved towards the apartment’s kitchen, hoping that Adrien wasn’t allergic to anything that she made that night.

“Come on Adrien, you can sleep in the guest room tonight.” Marinette said as she lead him through the house towards the guest room. “It’s on the opposite side of my room from my parents so if you want to scream into the pillow don’t hold back.”

As they entered the room and Marinette turned on the lights Adrien looked around, noticing that the windows were facing the alley and kept a smile off his face. _Perfect, I can use that to get out and talk to Ladybug on patrol tonight, if I close the door and lock it then that’s easy to keep my secret._ He thought as he looked at Marinette with a bitter smile. “Thanks Marinette, I don’t deserve a friend like you.”

“Is this about the advice Adrien?” Marinette asked as she looked at him as he sat down on the bed. “Adrien you didn’t know about it. Listen, my grandmother told me once that you can only give advice on what you know, you didn’t and you could only give what you knew at the time.”

“I was thought she was just a social climber or trying to get people to like her because she was scared.” Adrien admitted as he put his head down. “Chloe was like that, trying to act like the person she wanted to like her.”

“Chloe…….?” Marinette asked as she looked at him before gasping and covering her mouth. “Her mom right? She was like that all those years so her mother would like her?!” 

“Yeah, she’s always had this idolized view of her for a while; I think what happened when her mom was Akumatized might have broken that.” Adrien said as he looked at her with a bitter smile. “She actually came to talk to me about getting justice for you, trying to figure out how to get your expulsion overturned.”

Marinette stared at Adrien with her mouth open in total shock, only managing to mutter half formed words before she was able to speak clearly. “Chloe did, I thought she hated me!” 

“No, Chloe’s been hard to understand. If she hated you then she’ll ignore you, and well I think she liked how you would insult her back.” Adrien said as Marinette looked at him and Adrien continued speaking. “Her grandmother on her mom’s side was a weird person when she was alive, always talking about getting people back based on her own sense of justice.”

“And she copied her sense of humor from her mother right?” Marinette asked dryly and Adrien only laughed lightly. “I have some stuff to finish that I was taking a break from when this all happened, we usually eat in about an hour so I’ll see you later.”

Adrien nodded and Marinette walked and closed the door, Adrein sighing as she did, noticing the door had a lock and he nodded. “I’m hoping you won’t mind if I don’t feed you that kind of cheese for a while Plagg.” 

“Don’t be too bad kid, just grab me a slice of this places cheese bread every once in a while, hell a piece of bread would do in a hurry.” Plagg said as he floated out of Adrien’s jacket. “Don’t be overthinking it; I just love cheese like my sugerclub loves sugar.”

“I thought so for a while now, I’ll make sure that I grab a few piece of emergency cheese the next time I can slip into a continuance store.” Adrien said with a smirk as he looked at the window. “Think we’ll be able to use that to get out on patrol?”

“I’ll check, give me a few minutes to look around, take a nap kid, I’ll wake you when I’m back.” Plagg said as he shot through the window and Adrien sighed and leaned back on the bed and closed his eyes.

“I can’t believe this; Chloe’s actually trying to help me?” Marinette said as she closed the door to her room. Tikki floated up and looked at her with a smile. 

“She bonded with Pollen, I wouldn’t expect something else and her jabs against you were like someone hoping for someone to strike back.” Tikki said causing Marinette to look at her.

“So all this time Chloe’s been looking for someone to verbally spar with, but what about Ms. Buister’s present, no that was more against her then me.” Marinette said as she sat down and started to mutter to herself. Tikki grinned and looked at Marinette and before turning sharply and saw Plagg floating by the exit to the terraince and frowned.

“I’m going to check the alley Marinette, I want to make sure we can slip by Adrien the next time we go on patrol.” Tikki said and Marinette put her head down.

“Stay out of sight okay? I really need to think about everything Chloe could have done or didn’t. Now there’s Alix’s watch, but she could have just dropped it by accident, and there’s the design she stole from me, but how couldn’t she have seen the fact that I signed it…..” As Marinette went over her interactions with Chloe Tikki giggled and flew out of the room, hugging Plagg as soon as she saw him.

“Hey sugerclub, how should we deal with this?” Plagg asked as Tikki smiled at him.

“I’m just happy he’s finally standing up for himself after everything you told me about their relationship. When I saw all that his father had him doing the first time I really hoped he wanted to do a least one of them.” Tikki said and Plagg scowled

“No, that kitten’s always trying to please him and he never would say anything, not that he would have listened to him.” Plagg said with a snort. “If his mom hadn’t set up his early modeling work’s pay and invested it so he had a modest income from them I don’t think he would have been half as confident to have started to do this.”

“How bad is it, really?” Tikki asked as she floated and looked at him.

“I….. I don’t know. Gabriel is short with everyone, not just Adrien. Maybe he’s like Tom’s dad was, but he’s as proud and over protective as Jonah’s was.” Plagg said as Tikki frowned. “And then there this, do you think we should push for a reveal? I mean tomorrow’s patrol alone….”

“It might be time; they trust each other and Marinette could talk to him about the butterfly.” Tikki said before going silent as Plagg looked at her.

“What butterfly?” Plagg asked flatly and Tikki looked back and sighed.

“When Lila threatened her, an Akuma was summoned…… I helped talk her to get it away but then Lila was turned.” Tikki said and Plagg looked at her and hung his head.

“And the kitten thinks that Lila was turned because of him calling her out, another reason he said if they knew the truth it doesn’t matter if she lies.” Plagg said as he looked down at the alley between the buildings. “What’s over there anyway?”

“I think it was originally an apartment before the owner died and it was taken by the city, I think they were talking about making it a low budget housing but the school raised a stink and it went to court and died there according to Marinette.” Tikki said as she shrugged. “And then Hawkmoth appeared and well…..”

“Might have to teach the kids a few tricks sugerclub, they might be ready for them.” Plagg said as he looked around and scowled at the school. “I wonder how Lila tricked Gabriel into giving her that contract; it had to have been on her end you know?”

“He wouldn’t have reached out to her?” Tikki asked and Plagg floated there for a few moments before he shook his head.

“He only remembers Kagami’s name because he wants a contract with her mother’s company, I don’t know how he would have even talked to her.” Plagg said flatly. “Let’s have the kids transform and call each other, that way they can talk and hopefully postpone the patrol until the day after, we just have to hope that after what happened today Hawkmoth and Mayura will stay down for a day.”

“Yeah…….” Tikki said as she frowned. “Hey Plagg, when you were in your Miraculous, did you feel something from Duusu?”

“You mean did Mayura feel wrong to me, yeah.” Plagg said with a frown. “I’m thinking there’s a lot about why he’s doing this that we don’t know yet.”

Tikki floated there and let what Plagg said stew and she tried to think of anything, something was telling her she had all the pieces but she couldn’t set them together right. “I’ll tell Marinette to do that and we’ll let them call each other and hope for the best, for today our choosen are more important.”

Plagg nodded before he shot back towards Adrien, promising himself he’d let the kid sleep for a bit more and Tikki floated back down towards Marinette and hoped for the best, that this situation might be weathered by all involved.  
  


OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Alya looked around the room, trying not to look at the empty seat where Marinette….. _normally_ sat and tried to keep it off her mind. _Nothing about yesterday makes sense, I mean I know Marinette and she wouldn’t cheat or push anyone down the stairs! I mean I can’t even understand how that happened, or how Hawkmoth did what he did again._ Ayla thought as she looked into space, trying to figure out what had happened yesterday that she never noticed Nino come and put his hand on her shoulder.

“You okay babe?” Nino asked as he reached her and looked around the room. _That’s strange, Adrien is usually here before me most days, it’s not like him to be late………is there an emergency photo shoot or something his dad pulled him for, he usually texts me to ask to for a copy of my notes?_ Nino thought as he sat down behind Alya.

“No, nothing about yesterday makes sense; I mean I can’t even think of an explanation that explains everything.” Alya said as she hung her head.

“How about half of it, we can work from the rest Alya.” Nino said as Alya hung lower and he grew worried. “Babe, what is it?”

“Marinette thinks Lila did it on purpose to get her expelled, but I can’t figure out why. Marinette said that Lila did it and that she’s a liar, I thought it was jealousy that they don’t like each other but I don’t know anymore.” Alya whispered softly as she looked down at her desk. “I mean I get that if you think that Lila was behind it, most of it all lines up but I can’t think of a motive or how to prove it, everything I have is telling me that I’m missing something that I can’t see it, some piece of this puzzle that explains the missing portion.”

“We’ll figure out what we can do babe, we just need some time.” Nino said as he looked down and frowned, his own mind going place he didn’t like. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice Alix and Max until Alix slammed her hand down on Alya’s desk causing them both to look at her.

“How are we going to help Marinette Alya?!” Alix demanded as she looked at Alya. “You’re the reporter, you have to know something we can use to get her back and find out the truth, cause there is no way what happened yesterday was real!”

“I don’t know I mean the evidence is shaky at best, I mean with the fact someone pulled the fire alarm the other day I guess that was could be how the answer sheet could have gotten in her backpack, but to prove that’s what happened is imposible.” Alya said as she looked down.” But then their’s Lila necklace, she said she saw Marinette take it but I never even heard about it before and how would Marinette have even known about? But to prove it is imposable.”

“The necklace being in the locker wasn’t enough proof.” Max’s voice startled them and they turned to look at him. “I had Markov do a simulation and it is 100% possible to drop it through the locker’s grill and a chain long enough would let someone put it through the grill and end up where it did, and then there’s the fact that none of the lockers even have locks.”

“I’ve always felt something scary about that, that’s why I just use it to hold projects and my coat in the winter; I think Marinette does it too.” Rose chimed in and they looked to see her and Juleka nod.

“There is no way in hell that Marinette hurt someone on purpose even if they did deserve it, and to cheat on a test that didn’t matter, no way.” Juleka said as she looked down, a hard look in her visible eye.

“At least once the investigation is done then maybe we can learn what happened right?” Kim spoke up from behind them, causing them all to turn and look at him.

“What investigation?” Alix asked as she turned and looked at Kim who shrugged before answering.

“The investigation that they have to do, that’s required for an expulsion to be legal?” Kim asked as he looked down at them in confusion. “I mean you can’t be expelled like that, you’ve got the right to defend yourself before a panel of judges.”

Alix looked up at him and frowned as Nino got out his phone and started to type away.

“Why do you know that muscles?” Alix asked as Kim looked away and blushed.

“One of my dares before I started to come here, I had to look over the school’s expulsion rules and then argue against a student being expelled. Not a real student of course, and the darer was my civics teacher and wanted to get my grade up.” Kim said as he grinned. “It worked, I got a B on that extra-credit work and he dare me to do better, if I got in the top ten students that year he would help me set up a sports festival over the summer, I was in the top five that year but I discovered competitive swimming and well.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Alix said as she looked at him and frowned. “Wait a second, it that in your file…..wait. Is that why Madame Mendeleiev always challenges you when she hands out the study guides?”

“What can I say, she knows my old teacher.” Kim said as Nino looked up with a smile from his phone.

“And he’s right dudes, its solid law, she gets a hearing.” Nino said with a smirk on his face.

“Once they check out the camera’s I’m sure Marinette will be back!” Rose said with a grin. “Lila has to have been wrong; Marinette wouldn’t push anyone down the stairs. She probably slipped and Marinette tried to grab her!”

“If she fell.” Alix said with a scowl as she crossed her arms.

Alya looked at her and felt hers heart beat faster as she paled. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve taken injuries before with my stunts and stuff, if she had fallen she shouldn’t have been able to move that well.” Alix said and looked conflicted. “And the last time somebody fell down them two years ago they had to take them to the hospital, they were knocked out unconscious!”

“Why would Lila have been lying about being hurt, I mean why?” Rose asked as she and Juleka joined the others. Alya looked around the room and noticed that Ivan and Mylene were in the back talking quietly with each other, but from the frown Ivan had she could guess what they were talking about.

“I don’t know, but we can agree that Mari wouldn’t do anything like that right, I mean we know her!” Alya said with a scowl as the others nodded and looked at each other. “I mean sure she didn’t like Lila, but I always it was because she thought Lila was after Adrien.”

“And we **know** that Marinette wouldn’t do that, but how did the answer sheet get in her bag and the necklace into her locker?” Juleka asked and the others looked around, none of them making the logical leap that would explain everything.

Above them Chloe scoffed and looked down at them. _This is why I wear a ‘mask’ all the time, it doesn’t pay to show who you are all the time. I’m sorry that you’re learning it from interacting with Lila Mari, you were the only person who actually was fun to bitch at, besides Adrien and Sabrina, I think you’re the only person in this class I like._ She thought before she leaned closer to Sabrina. “How’s your dad feel about what you talked to him about.”

“He was out all night, didn’t get to talk to him yet.” Sabrina whispered back to her. “I’ll talk to him at dinner about it; think we should tell the others?”

“I don’t know, I mean she’s got most of them wrapped around her finger, if something doesn’t change we might have to.” Chloe said quietly as she looked around the room, her eyes lingering on Alya and she frowned. _Still it looks like she might be breaking it, if so after a little humble pie I think their releationship will survive this. Still I wonder if I can get in on the bet about when those two get together._ Chloe thought as she looked around the classroom.

“Still, I was surprised with how many students actually do homeschool since Hawkmoth came out, aren’t you?” Sabrina whispered and thought of how many different homeschool options there were in Paris alone.

“Trust me I know parents who are…….. _overprotective_ and that’s pretty normal, but I’m more surprised with how many students are here after all.” Chloe said as she remembered the total list of students that actually attended the school was a lot smaller then she originally thought.

“This place always seemed small to me, I don’t know why but it always did.” Sabrina said as she shrugged her shoulders. “And knowing our classmates, I was always surprised how many of us have the same general interests and goals, you know?”

Chloe nodded was going to say something when she went still and Sabrina turned and saw Lila coming into the room talking with Nathaniel as she walked in. _There’s the bitch in question, I hope Adrien stays away, the research we did last night showed us a lot of options to choose from, a good program with group projects is just what we need._ Chloe thought as she looked down at Lila and it took everything she had learned as a Mayor’s daughter to keep the disgust she had for her off her face.

Alix looked over Lila and frowned. _If she really fell then she’s recovered faster than anyone could…… I so don’t like this, any of it. And if muscles if right and this place did something illegal yesterday then I might have to rethink my scholastic future here._ Alix thought as she looked at Lila as she moved towards the gathering around Ayla’s desk.

“Hey Lila, you know your walking a lot for someone who fell down the stairs.” Alix said before Lila could say anything. The others looked at her and she smiled the _same way she had before she told one of her stories_ Alix realized with a jolt as Lila started to speak.

“I’ve always had a high pain threshold really; I remember once when I broke my leg in a football game and still helped make the winning goal!” Lila said as the others only looked at her in disbelief. 

“American or European football?” Juleka asked and Lila looked at her inconfusion.

“What’s the difference?” Lila asked and Rose only face palmed and Juleka looked at her with a hard eye.

“European Football is called soccer in America.” Juleka said as the others looked from her to Lila and noticed Lila kept smiling the way she had when she began her story. Before anyone could say anything Miss Bustier came into the room.

“Students I’m sorry but could you all please take your seats, we have a lot to do today.” Miss Bustier said as the students all sat down at their seats before she continued. “First thing first I’m sorry to say that we have to pick a new president, anyone who wants the job please tell me when class ends. So I thought we would start today with…..” 

“Why do we need to pick a new class president, that’s Marinette’s job!” Ivan inturpted as he stared down at their teacher as the others with the exception of Lila nodded.

“You were all there when she was expelled Ivan, how we feel about it is immaterial we have to move on. There are things that the class president has to do that allows our school to function as it does and every class needs one.” Miss Bustier said as she looked at Ivan before Kim spoke up. 

“Yeah but he couldn’t have expelled her like that, it wasn’t right or lawful.” Kim said stubbornly as he crossed his arms and looked at Miss Bustier and who opened her mouth before Lila cut in.

“Kim how could you! After Marinette assaulted me how could you want her back?!” Lila cried as she covered her face and started to sniffle as she covered her eyes with her hands. Juleka frowned as she looked at this and looked down as Rose grabbed her arm, seeing a fierce look in her eyes.

Alix frowned as she looked at Lila and didn’t see any tears going down her face and wondered if this was all Lila was, a fraud who knew how to manipulate people. _If she took us for a ride then I’ll beat her myself, no I’ll testify against her!_ Alix thought as Kim looked at Lila with a frown on his face.

“That doesn’t matter Lila.” Kim said sternly. “Its Marinette right to tell her side of the story, something that no one gave her a chance to yesterday.”

Miss Bustier could only look on as the class descended into chaos as they realized that yes, no one had listened or even let Marinette talk about what had happened. Kim kept his eyes on Lila and what he didn’t see told him more then what he did.

“That’s enough everyone! Clearly you all feel strongly about this so I will compromise, the post will be opened until enough of you decide we need a new one, is that all right? Now lets begin class.” Miss Bustier said as she turned around. Alya sent a text to Nino and Rose and when her phone buzzed she smiled as she looked down at it and grinned. _Hang on Mari we’ll going to clear your name, I promise. But I think I might have to apologize about not believing you about Lila, I might have been wrong about her._ She thought as she half listened to Miss. Bustier’s leason, not noticing Lila watching her from the corner of her eyes and frowning that Adrien wasn’t here.

Lila looked around the room and scowled. _They all should have forgotten about Mari-Trash by now, and why’d that Alix bring up my ‘fall’. Maybe I should find her alone and tell her the truth, I’m sure she’d be smarter then Mari-trash was._ Lila thought and looked up as the lunch bell rang. Before she could do more then stand up and looked at Alix Rose was there looking at her. 

“Lila, I was wondering if I could talk to you about a charity a friend of mine was thinking about starting and I figured with your expertise you’d be the perfect person to talk to about how to structure it the right way!” Rose said as Lila turned her head and saw Alix as she left the room and bit down a curse before turning back to Rose and smiled.

“Of course I’d be happy to help you Rose! Why I remember when I was named the treasure for the save the spotted birds once when Mama was stationed in Mexico……” As Lila walked away Kim looked at her before going to Alya.

“Your idea?” Kim asked and Alya nodded as she got up.

“Yeah, Rose will give you some time to go and talk to Mr. Damacolis, me I’m going to talk to Marinette and hope she forgives me for being taken in by Lila.” Alya said as Kim winced.

“Sure she’s lying now?” Kim said as Alya looked down and nodded after a moment.

“I went over everything that she said and most of them were she said he said things, but the napkin is pretty damming.” Alya said and he remembered what Lila had said how it had almost taken Max’s eye out and winced as Nino came up to them. “Want to come with Nino?”

“Yeah, I’ll buy something from them and see if Adrien is at an emergency photoshoot or something, he usually text’s me if he won’t be here so he can copy my notes.” Nino said as he joined Ayla.

“Good luck.” Kim said as Alya nodded back at him. He turned and walked towards the courtyard entrance to the classroom and stopped when he saw Ivan waiting for him.

“Going to talk to Damacolis about how Marinette is due a hearing by a third party?” Ivan asked and Kim nodded.

“Yeah, how to do you know about that big guy?” Kim asked and Ivan shrugged and looked away.

“I’ve always been tall for my age, but once or twice people tried to get me expelled for what I **might** do, a hearing was always held and it was shot down.” Ivan said as Km looked at him before wincing himself.

“Oh….” Kim said and looked down and started to feel terable. “Dude, I’m sorry I gave you a hard time before Stoneheart man, I really am.”

Ivan put a hand on Kim’s hand and looked down at him and smiled. “A lot of people did over the years; you at least apologized about it afterwards and you mean it.”

Kim looked at Ivan and nodded as the two were silent as they walked towards Mr. Damacolis office and both of them hoped he would believe them. But as they reached the office they stopped when they heard Mr. Damacolis’s voice from within.

“This is my school and what I say goes!” Mr. Damacolis voice thundered from the office’s closed door and Ivan and Kim looked at each other.

“Wonder who he talking to?” Ivan asked before a voice, Aurora’s voice came back.

“Sir, that doesn’t matter, they are rules about this! You aren’t allowed to do that without a hearing!” Aurora’s voice shot back and Ivan and Kim looked at each other.

“Hey isn’t Aurora the class president for Ms. Mendeleiev class?” Ivan asked and Kim nodded and winced as he heard someone slam a fist onto a desk.

“OUT NOW! Any more and I’ll suspend you for talking against the authority of the principle!” Mr. Damacolis thundered before he opened the door and saw Kim and Ivan standing there.

“And what do you two want?” he growled as he saw Kim and Ivan as they stood there and watched as Aurora and Mirelle came out of the office and Aurora had a scowl on her face as Mirelle only looked ahead blank faced.

“We….” Kim began and only looked at the angry look on Damacolis’s face and the scowl on Aurora’s and tried to think of anything to say when Ivan spoke up.

“We were passing by on the way to the upstairs boy’s room sir, a dare that Kim could spend a day only using that one.” Ivan cut in and Kim nodded after a minute.

“Well lunch is almost over, so good day!” Mr. Damacolis said before he closed the door to his office and Aurora looked back and was about to explode when Mirelle put a hand on her arm and shook her head. Ivan put a hand on her other shoulder and gestured towards the side passage and he and Kim walked away with the girls following them.

“Was that about Marinette?” Kim asked once they had moved far enough so the principle couldn’t hear them and the two girls nodded their heads.

“I heard what happened over the school chat and well I couldn’t believe it, when I heard from Myele what happened I told Aurora and she was so mad.” Mirelle said as Aurora nodded as she scowled.

“The legality about it, right?” Ivan asked and Aurora nodded, looking so mad Kim looked around for a butterfly.

“We did a group project about the expulsion process a few months ago for Civics, comparing it to the adult court system and I knew as soon as I heard about it that nothing was done correctly, I mean it was a travesty!” Aurora said with a scowl as spat as she looked back at the office. _Stupid owl! He’s on a power trip and doesn’t think anything through and if he thinks he’ll get away with that._ She thought as Mirelle nodded.

`

“Yeah, if Ms. Mendeleiev hadn’t taken our class to that field trip I’m sure she would have brought up a lot of things to stop that before it went that far!” Mirelle said.

“She feels that bad and out of sorts about it?” Kim asked shocked at the fact the strictest teacher in school was reacting this way.

“Yeah, when Ms. Mendeleiev heard what happened this morning she put a video on and it took us a few minutes to stop and ask her what was wrong. She couldn’t believe that Miss Bustier just sat back and did nothing!” Mirelle said as she looked towards Miss Bustier’s classroom.

“I’ve worked with Marinette on the school council, she wouldn’t do that! And we’ve been talking about getting locks for weaks before this happened.” Aurora piped up and Kim and Ivan looked at each other with a smile on their faces.

Ivan looked at Kim and they smirked at each other. _So we have other allies and maybe a teacher too, this is perfect I can’t wait to talk to the others about it. and having a teacher on our side might help get her back_! Ivan thought excitedly.

“Come on girls, let’s go and talk with a few friends of ours, I think we’re all on the same side here.” Kim said as he grinned at the girls and as they walked away.

“You two should come and talk to Miss. Mendeleiev with us.” Aurora said as she pulled her phone out and turned off the recording app and grinned darkly as she moved. _Everything you just said is going to come home to roost and its hunting season, target owl._ She thought as she followed Kim and Ivan.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Alya and Nino visit Marinette they meet Adrien. And when an Akuma attacks a secret is revealed to our heroes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Csad asked if Gab’s going to throw Lila under the bus, no that’s not the way I entend to go, at least when I started that wasn’t what I was going with, but you’ll the truth before the end, but I will say this, a lot of Gab’s problem that made this happen is because of miscommunication with actions his wife took. [Snicker, snicker]

Alya and Nino ran towards the bakery and Alya stopped when she crossed the street, Nino continued to the door and looked back at Alya. “Babe, what’s wrong?”

“Marinette said Lila was a liar and I was so sure she was being jealous that I told her…..” Alya trailed off as she looked away. “I told her not to let her emotions color her options of people, and when this happened I said to find the culprit you don’t let your emotions affect your investigation and I did the same thing, I’m a terrible friend.”

Nino walked back to her and hugged her. “Babe, you’ve seen a lot of things over the years, right?”

“Yeah.” Alya said into Nino’s shoulder as he held her.

“You believed that Lila was a good person; that Marinette was letting her jealousy color how she felt about Lila right, and you’ve seen this before?” Nino asked and felt Alya nod against him.

“Yeah, a few times over the years. Once it was me a before I changed schools.” Alya said and Nino rubbed her back.

“Then you gave her advice based on what you knew, and Lila’s a snake.” Nino said as he turned her head and forced her to look at him. “The best thing we can do now is to move forward and apologies to Mari.”

“You’re right Nino thanks.” Alya said before kissing his check and walking towards the door. _I’m so sorry Mari, I shouldn’t have been tricked so easily, I will make it up to you!_ Alya thought as she moved towards the bakery.

Nino looked on and smirked and shook his head. _You ain’t the only one who has to make up for being a bad friend Alya; I can’t believe that I didn’t do anything yesterday._ Nino thought as he started following Alya.

Walking in behind Ayla Nino saw Sabine at the register and she looked up with a smile that seemed to become strained when she saw them, and that hurt him more then he thought it would.

“Nino, Alya, welcome. Are you here for lunch or something else?” Sabine asked and Nino stepped in front of Alya before he could speak she did.

“Marinette told you about what I said about Lila, didn’t she?” Alya asked and Sabine nodded and Alya felt worse than she did when she was outside. “I was so wrong and I need to apologies to her about…..everything.”

“Yeah…… we need to apologize to Marinette about not believing her about Lila and try to find a way to get her back into school.” Nino said and Sabine’s face softened.

“Oh you kids, I knew you were good people. I’m sorry to say that I don’t think that my daughter will be coming back to that _school_ anytime soon and I would advise your parents to look into a home study program.” Sabine said causing Alya and Nino to look at her in shock.

“I know I am!” A voice behind them caused Nino and Alya to turn and see Chloe and Sabrina standing in the doorway with Chloe smirking at them. “So you two finally wised up about the Italian Liar, better late than never.”

“Chloe, what are you doing here?” Alya asked and then she did a double take. “Wait ‘wised up?’ You knew that Lila was a liar too?!”

“Yes, it was obvious and I’m getting lunch.” Chloe said as she walked by Alya towards Sabine. “Good afternoon Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, the usual please.”

“Hello Chloe, that will be one scorn, one cherry tart and four croissants.” Sabine said as she reached down and pulled up a box she handed to Chloe with a smile. “And we got that message of yours, thanks.”

“After what happened I had to.” Chloe said and Sabine beamed at Chloe who started to look conflicted.

“Thank you for being a good friend to Marinette Chloe.” Sabine said and Alya and Nino stared at Sabine in shock that she would call Chloe Marinette’s friend.

“I said it before, I’ll say it again. I’m not her friend!” Chloe said as she turned away and Sabine chuckled.

“Relationships are complicated dear, I’ve always said that.” Sabine said as she held out her hand as Chloe handed over her credit card to pay for the food. “And you don’t have to like someone to be a friend to them, or have a ‘normal relationship’ either. That’s something I learned over the years. That you wouldn’t let Marinette be hurt and not do anything to help, that says more than how you two bite at each other.”

Chloe didn’t say anything, only taking back her card without a word and walked through Alya and Nino and past Sabrina who smiled at Nino and Alya before she followed after Chloe.

“What was that?” Alya asked as she stared at the door with Nino. Sabine just laughed a little and when they turned back to her they saw she was smiling at them.

“Chloe has been coming here for lunch every few days for a while now. That girl had a bad role model growing up and her sense of humor could do with some work sure but her heart is in the right place, she just had to………find a better way to show it.” Sabine said as she looked at the kids. “Go on you two, Marinette’s upstairs in the living room; just make sure you call out before you go up okay?”

Alya opened her mouth to say something but Nino put a hand on her shoulder.

“Sure Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, thanks!” Nino said as he led Alya towards the apartment part of the building.

“What was that Nino?” Alya asked quietly as she followed Nino past Sabine.

“Don’t know, maybe since our girl isn’t going to school today she’s in her PJs or something?” Nino said as Alya smirked at him causing him to sigh. “Alya, no.”

“Fine, fine. Take away all my fun.” Alya said as she pouted at Nino.

Upstairs Marinette grinned as she and Adrien were playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III and Adrien had the upper hand at the moment. “You won’t win that easy Adrien!”

“Try and dodge my missile attack then!” Adrien shot back with a grin as Marinette manipulated her avatar to dodge and fire back as Adrien tried to press his advantage. She laughed a little at what they were doing, thinking back to the meeting last night. After the meeting the social worker had told Adrien to hide out until the court case, and told Marinette that if she didn’t receive a summons to an expulsion hearing either tomorrow or the day after to contact her office to work it out. After her parents had woken her and Adrien up for breakfast that morning she had almost run to shower to get to school when she ran into Adrien and remember what had happened yesterday and then after they were done with breakfast this had led after they practiced their Mandarin for a while and now were playing a game to relax.

“Come on, miss!” Marinette said with a grin as she tried to dodge the missile but a blow sent her avatar down and Adrien fired and destroyed it before she could get it back up. “You got me. Great match!”

“Thanks! I was usually in my room before I started going to school if I didn’t have anything to do and well this and a few other games were all that I had really.” Adrien said as he looked at Marinette and then hung his head. “Dad is…….. really controlling.”

“I…… sorry about the scarf, I should have told you I made it for you.” Marinette said as she looked at him and felt terrible. _Oh I should have told him, if he never knew the truth he might have tried to work through it with Gabriel and get nothing from him. And then who knows what he would have done or how he would have rationalized how his father treated him and then maybe he might even have gotten into a relationship with whoever his father told him and been locked into a loveless marriage and it would have been all my fault!_ Marinette thought as she started to spiral and would have continued but Adrien put a hand on her shoulder.

“Marinette I don’t blame you for not telling me. I blame myself for thinking that my……that _Gabriel_ would actually take the time to do something like that at all.” Adrien said as he looked out a window and sighed. “I have to come to terms with that when mom disappeared dad just…… he broke. I will always love him, but this isn’t health for both of us.”

“Adrien.” Marinette said as she looked at him and put her hand on his shoulder as he saw and thought about his relationship or lack of it with his father. She was going to open her mouth when someone called up from below.

“Marinette? It’s me and Nino! Your mom said to call up before we came up?” Alya’s voice came from bellow and Marinette jolted and her eyes turned to Adrien as he looked towards the stairs and she looked around before noticing the bathroom.

“The bathroom, you can hide there, take the controller. Hey Alya, give me a minute then you guys can come on up!” Marinette called out as Adrien nodded at her and dashed silently to the bathroom and closed the door moments before Alya and Nino came into the room and Alya grabbed Marinette in a hug before she could say anything. “Alya what……..you guys figured out Lila is a liar haven’t you?”

Alya went still against Marinette and sighed. “Yeah, I’m sorry girl I thought that she was a good person and well….. a few time over the years I let the first impressions I had of a person color how I saw them and well.”

Marinette looked at her and hugged her back. “So if you could make that mistake, it’s easier to see others make the same one then?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry girl she’s just a snake, not that’s an insult to snakes!” Alya said and Nino nodded and hid a frown as he thought he heard a snuffled snort.

“She’s a monster dudette, but how the hell do we find a way to prove it and get you back into school, that’s the problem.” Nino said as he looked around the room and noticed the tv had the winer screen of Ultimate Mecha Strike III and it said ‘Player 2 won’ and saw NAD03 in the ‘winner’s circle’ and frowned. _That’s the bot Adrien used in the tournament, who’s playing with her as her parents are downstairs, and where’s the controller?_ He thought as he looked around the room and noticed a few things that told him someone else was here.

“I don’t know if I’ll be returning to the school for this grade, I just……. I learned a few things that made me and my parents rethink a lot about of things.” Marinette said and she looked down not to meet their eyes.

“What why? Is it about what happened?” Alya asked as she looked at Marinette who refused to look at them as she looked away from them.

“That’s part of it. Legally I should only be suspended; I can’t be expelled from school without a hearing. And then we discovered something else about the school that really, I………it makes going back there a bad idea.” Marinette said as she rubbed her arms. 

“What could you have found that made your parents decide that?” Alya asked as she stared at her friend. Nino meanwhile looked around and noticed two pillows that he knew was usually on the chair and not on the couch unless someone was using it.

“We haven’t decided anything yet, we’ve decided to deal with this before going forward with anything else but I know for sure that w……I won’t be returning to Francoise Dupont for this grade level.” Marinette said as she looked at Alya and Nino and struggled to say something else. “And I think you should talk to your families about it, it might be good for maybe the whole school if they all became homeschooled.”

Nino looked around and noticed a plat on the couch with the remains of a cheese breed and looked at the bathroom door and noticed it was partly open. “Before we go any further, mind coming out Adrien?”

“Adrien?!” Alya asked as she turned towards the door, missing Marinette blushing and after a few moments the bathroom door opened and Adrien poked his head out, a grin on his face.

“What gave me away?” Adrien asked as he came out of the bathroom and Nino smirked.

“The bot, player two, the pillow and the food. You and Mari really didn’t clean up good dude.” Nino said as Marinette looked around the room and saw what he meant as Alya did as well and pouted, cursing herself for missing what her boyfriend had seen.

“What are you doing here, I don’t think papa Gabriel would let you miss school to visit a friend.” Alya said and Adrien looked at her with a hard look in his eyes that shocked her for a few seconds.

“Yeah, well I really don’t care what dad….. what _Gabriel_ thinks is important right now. It’s a long story but Lila is worse than you know.” Adrien said as he looked down. “I mean I knew she was a liar, but this? I couldn’t even think it was possible for someone our age to be so evil.”

“Wait a second, you knew she was a liar dude?” Nino asked as he stared at Adrien in shock, Alya staring as well before going red in the face as she glared at him.

“Why the hell didn’t you say anything, I mean you knew she was a liar!” Alya demanded and Adrien looked away. “Well?!”

“Yeah bro, why didn’t you say anything at all, didn’t we deserve to be warned about her?” Nino asked and Adrien just sighed.

“Before you guys start let me explain why first okay?” Adrien said as he held up his hands. Alya growled but at Marinette’s look she relented and looked at Nino who while he glared at Adrien he nodded at her

“Fine Adrien, but it better be good.” Alya growled.

“It’s not. Well to start with you didn’t believe Marinette so I figured you wouldn’t believe me, second when I talked to her alone I thi….. I know she was Akumatized afterwards so…..” Adrien said with a shrug and looked down as Marinette reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “And then most of her lies, it was just celebrity gossip, I’ve lived with that most of my life and it always seemed to die down after a while if you didn’t fight against it and lastly I thought she might have been nervous to make friends if she was always traveling.”

Alya looked at him and felt the urge to shake her head. _I guess sunshine is just too good. Okay, I can see someone acting like that to get people to like them, but after she kept doing it you should have known something…….he’s been homeschooled most of his life, besides Chloe has he even talked to people his own age without them being models or at parties?_ Alya thought before something Nino said shocked her.

“Wait when she was Akumatized, who was she?” Nino asked in shock as Alya stared at him and then turned to Adrien to hear what he had to say.

“I……think she was that shape shifter that made was the fake me, a while back you know?” Adrien said and seemed to be struggling for something before he continued. “And she was Volpina, that Akuma who could make illusions.”

“The one who made it look like a meteor and almost dropped you off the tower!? That was her?” Alya asked and Adrien nodded. “I spent a month trying to find out who that was and I just should have asked you, wait why do you know that?”

“She tried to convince me she was a Miraculous user when she was Akumatized then came to my room to prove it.” Adrien said with a shrug.

“Makes sense, I mean the way I was told I acted when I was Bubbler man, that’s was so not cool.” Nino said and Alya nodded, how people said she acted when she was Lady Wifi made her agree with her boyfriend.

“What do you mean, it was all celebrity gossip?” Alya asked and Nino nodded, wondering what Adrien meant.

“Yeah, I mean it was all she said or something like that, you know gossip. I figured that you’d all get wise or she’d mess up a story sooner or later!” Adrien said as he looked down. “And given how unhinged and emotional I……thought she was I didn’t want you guy in the blast zone.”

“Wait emotional, what are you talking about dude?” Nino asked and Adrien looked away with a scowl.

“Before she became that shapeshifting Akuma I was talking to her about not lying, and after she used the Akuma tried to destroy my social life…….well if anyone called her on it then I was worried that she might attack you guys, as in try and hurt whoever set her off.” Adrien said as he looked away. “And then I gave some terrible advice to Mari because I didn’t know everything and well…..I messed up a lot.”

Alya looked at him as Marinette shook her head.

“No Adrien, you didn’t know what she said, that’s like saying I should have said something about the scarf.” Marinette said and Adrien smiled at her.

“Wait, you told him about the scarf Marinette?” Alya asked as she looked between them and Nino looked confused.

“What about the scarf didn’t Adrien’s dad…….tell me he didn’t dude, please.” Nino begged and Adrien only shook his head.

“He did, he took credit for the scarf, that and the fact he hired Lila to spy on me and maybe get Marinette expelled, it’s caused me to file for epilation.” Adrien said and Nino stared at his friend as Alya gasped.

“He did what! He hired Lila to get Marinette expelled!?” Alya exploded and Adrien nodded.

“She said her modeling contract was a bonus. That…….. it’s terrible but it proves that I can’t trust him anymore, I don’t feel safe under his control.” Adrien said and sighed. “I turned fifteen a few months back, once I turn sixteen….. I’ve floated the idea of moving out for a while now, guess I just have to do it sooner than I thought”

“Adrien, dude…… I’m sorry you had to man.” Nino said and Adrien looked

“I didn’t have a choice. What happened to us after mom disappeared, it’s not healthy and this might be the only chance the two of us have to ever heal.” Adrien muttered as he looked up, and his friends could see the turmoil in his eyes.

Alya looked at Adrien and swallowed, what happened to Marinette was terrible but this, she couldn’t believe it. _I knew that Gabriel was over protective but this, this is beyond anything I could ever think he could do that with Lila…… wait his advice!_ Alya thought as she went still and looked at Adrien. “Adrien, what didn’t you know about Lila?”

Adrien looked at Marinette and then gestured towards one of the books and Marinette nodded causing Adrien to sigh. “Remember when I was taken out of school, it was because I lost a book that I brought to school that my dad considered important, Lila took it to try and con me and then Marinette saw her throw it into a trashcan and couldn’t get it back to me before Volpina happened. Marinette brought it back to my dad and took the heat so that’s why I went back to school, and then when Lila came back well she…..”

“Lila threatened me the day she came ‘back’. She said we’re at war and that I would loss all my friends. I thought this was just her doing it.” Marinette said and Alya’s mouth dropped open and looked at her friend in horror.

“She what.” Nino asked and he stared to gain a glare on his face.

“And that’s not the worst of it; someone sent Marinette video evidence that she was behind everything and showed how she did it too.” Adrien said and Alya turned to him as he spoke. “It was all there on the video; she pulled the fire alarm yesterday and then she put the answer sheet into Marinette’s bag, she walked down the stairs before screaming and she put the necklace into Marinette’s locker.”

Alya stopped breathing for a second as what Adrien was telling her caused her to just stare at her friend, shocked beyond all reason. Before anyone could say anything else a beeping from Nino’s phone caused him to turn and scowl.

“Get this, when Kim went to talk to Damocles about getting Marinette a hearing, Aurora and Mireille were already trying that and the Owl threw them out.” Nino said with a scowl and Marinette face palmed as Adrien stared at him before shaking his head in disgust.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ms. Mendeleiev sat at her desk and scowled as she looked down at the tests on it, not seeing them and letting herself just. _Caline what were you thinking, why didn’t you take them to Damocles yourself! If you had then this whole mess wouldn’t have happened, and I can’t believe that you and Damocles didn’t question the fact she never said anything when her necklace was ‘stolen’! It’s like that old foolish owl didn’t even remember what happened all those years ago, I know I came in the month after with what happened with him but Caline should have been told about it! Why o why did I have to schedule the field trip to that planetarium for yesterday?_ She thought as she held her head with her hands, visions of terrible things going behind her head as she sat there. “The schools going to be closed after this, why didn’t I transfer to a different one before this, o wait I know, it’s because I trained to be a teacher here.”

She looked up from her desk and looked around the rooms, noting a few marks here and there that told of how old this room was and just sighed. _I knew that sooner or later that something would happen at this school, I’ve felt it coming for a while now. But expelling Miss Dupain-Cheng? She’s one of the best students in school, a shoe in for student council president next year and one of the best designers that’s not in the industry! Oh forget about it woman, those girls will talk to that owl and maybe I can finish grading these tests before lunch is over!_ She thought as she tried and failed to focus. Before she could do anything bug huff a knock at the door caused her to look up and see Ivan, Kim, Aurora and Mireille walked into the room and she frowned.

“Giving that Mr. Lê Chiến and Mr. Bruel are here I would say that talking to that chicken didn’t go well Ms. Beauréal?” Miss Mendeleiev asked with a sinking feeling forming.

“No Madame, he basically threw us out when I mentioned that he was required by law.” Aurora said and Ms. Mendeleiev looked at them before dropping her head onto her desk.

“Ms. Mendeleiev?” Mireille asked and Ms. Mendeleiev only waved a hand as she moaned into her desk.

“The school’s going to close! I try and follow the lawsuit and those two idiots undue everything! Oh god why me, I just wanted to be a teacher but I had to come to this place!” She said as she started to cry. _I knew I should have scheduled the trip for a latter day, I just knew it! But an Akuma ruined the last three trips and this seemed to be perfect! Why oh why didn’t I just reschedule?_ She thought as she kept her head down and tried to get her emotions back under control, her students looking at each other and trying and failing to understand why she had reacted like this.

“Why do I get the feeling that this is about more than just what happened to Marinette?” Aurora

asked and Ms. Mendeleiev nodded at them.

“It has to do with a student who was driving to suicide years before any of you started coming here. To make a long story short its why most of the teachers here don’t punish unless we see it happen.” Ms. Mendeleiev said as the students reacted to this bit of information.

“You know, that makes a lot of what I’ve seen in the past year or seem so obvious in hindsight.” Kim said and Ivan looked at him before nodding.

“Why isn’t that in the student hand book, you’d think that’s something that we should know!” Aurora demanded and at this Miss Mendeleiev looked down. “Miss Mendeleiev?”

“That was a condition for the last principle to leave quietly, and not turn it all into more of a circus then it was at the time.” She said as she looked at the four students. “It was a hard decision but in the end the teacher’s union backed off and agreed to it, the head of the board had a relative who had tried to take their own life and well.”

“Wow, just wow. I knew that this school was a bit different, but I always thought it was just a bad case of bullying years ago that got out of hand.” Aurora muttered as Mireille nodded.

“I thought it was a just bad drama about crushes and boyfriend, girlfriend or something like that really.” Mireille said and Kim looked between them and shrugged.

“That’s almost as bad as how it was when all those Akumas attacked after Marinette was expelled, right Ivan? Still don’t understand how he could do that again, much less how he did it on Hero Day.” Kim asked and Ivan nodded before they both looked up at Miss Mendeleiev’s gasp.

“Hero’s Day?! Then there was another mass Akuma attack?” Ms. Mendeleiev asked causing Kim and Ivan to nod.

“Yeah, Marinette’s parents opened the doors out and this mass of red Akuma’s poured in but then they just stopped and fizzled out.”

“The Akuma’s were red?! You’re sure about that?” Ms. Mendeleiev asked Kim and Ivan who nodded.

“Yeah, but I don’t know if that means anything but they were red.” Ivan said and Kim looked at the girls who looked as lost as he felt.

Miss Mendeleiv only looked at her students and felt her eyes widen as she tried to process this. _That doesn’t make any sense, none of this does! This is the cherry on top of everything about yesterday, I mean the only way this would even……….!_ Her thoughts died as she came to a conclusion that shocked her enough to cause her mouth to drop open and she looked at the students.

After they had left Miss Mendeleiv only looked down at her desk, her mind going over some notes she had jolted down over the last few grades before she put the tests away and opened her laptop and accessed a file. Once more she was proud of herself for making it so her laptop wasn’t wireless and looked at the file and moved towards a file titled ‘HAWKMOTH’ and accessed it and frowned. After a few moments of looking over what she had written in she sighed and shook her head. _I was right, the only mass Akuma attack had to have been set up before hand, he was planning that from the get go or he took a gamble and augmented his powers which is a whole other kettle of fish. But why didn’t he continue……… could he have an accomplice…… that tracks then. So he Akumitized one person who ‘boosts’ his abilities but if he needs to do that first how did he know to do it again today?_ _He had to prepare for the mass spike._ She thought as she looked over what she had written and sighed. “There’s no other explanation, he planned for this to happen…….but was he watching or did he have ‘help’ on the other end?”

As she looked at the clock as it the time advanced towards her science lesson with the other students and Lila she went over all the interactions and recent events and she was praying that what her instants were telling her was wrong.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Nathalie walked through the mansion towards Gabriel’s office and stopped when she reached it, cringing a little as she imagined what Gabriel could do once she told him both what she had found and hadn’t found. She looked at the door and moved her hand towards it before pulling away and swallowed before Gabriel voice came from within.

“Get in here Nathalie and tell me what you found.” Gabriel said and Nathalie swallowed and opened the door and walked in. Gabriel sat at his desk and looked up from his computer as she entered the room and he scowled at her. “Why do I feel that you don’t have anything that I will like?”

“He’s not at the Hotel and I saw his friend, Mr. Lahiffe walked to school alone.” Nathalie began as she looked at him. “So far onto the other matter whoever is behind it is keeping it hidden behind a lot of layers. And that whoever is behind this sent officers to talk to the people at the company and one even went to Victor.”

“So then we have nothing.” Gabriel said as he clenched his hands as he stood up from his desk and looked started to pace around the room. _I don’t know what I was expecting, with the way the law reacted to the first and last time I tried to akumatize a judge then I knew they had upgrades their privacy and security procedures. Who could be doing this and why……..Adrien…… no someone must be using him and his anger made him easy to manipulate._ He thought as he tried to figure out anything to help find his son. “And what did they say to them.”

“Victor was the most forth coming about his talks, saying that he only told them what he observed at every photoshoot he’s ever done with Adrien.” Nathalie said and she looked a little concerned for a few seconds. “And he offered them his body-cam footage.”

“What body-cam?” Gabriel asked and felt a head ache forming as he looked at Nathalie.

“According to Victor he always wears one, has for years because one stopped a relative from being scammed when he was in his teens. He records them and puts them into external storage that he keeps in a ‘safe place’. The model in question has a time function so whatever it records has a time of when it was.” Nathalie said and Gabriel looked at her and shook his head. “It’s in his contract and he doesn’t share it with anyone, theres a clause about the authorities and their investigations but…….”

“Nathalie once you’re done with what I gave you look at our other employees with their own personal contracts, see if anything else is in there for anyone.” Gabriel command and looked at her, a thought coming to the front of his mind. “Also what about the meat of the lawsuit, the charges themselves, being brought against

“About that, I’ve been able to investigate the claims about his not paying his trust……. And I don’t know what that means, we’ve paid him for every job his did but I think there’s something I’m not seeing. I need your permission to look closer at the trust we’ve been paying Adrien’s wages into.” Nathalie said and Gabriel nodded.

“Of course, get me the forms and I’ll sign them, and what about our collateral damage the other day?” Gabriel asked and at this Nathalie looked at him with a hint of disgust in her eyes.

“So far there’s nothing in the city’s school board about it, I don’t like anything about this. From what I know there should be some noise about who will handle this, it can’t be just a single person’s decision.” Nathalie said and Gabriel frowned as well, memories of a collage civics project coming back to him.

“I didn’t major in law, but I know that something like an expulsion generates paperwork.” Gabriel said and Nathalie nodded

“Yes it should but that’s the thing ……… I was looking into that to see if there was anything else we could drop to help her but ……..there’s nothing at all.” Nathalie said and Gabriel looked at her and took off his glasses and pinched his eyes.

“What are you saying that Adrien’s school didn’t follow the law at all?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie looked concerned before nodding. _And that’s another reason why we decided to have Adrien homeschooled so long, just so that something like this wouldn’t happen to him._ Gabriel thought as Nathalie looked conflicted.

“I don’t know if they even contacted anyone at the school board about this, I can’t see a reason why they would do this.” Nathalie said and Gabriel chuckled. “Sir?”

“To cover themselves of course my dear, if they just expel her by the principle’s decision alone there might be trouble. But if they expel her for absences, that’s on her.” Gabriel said and Nathalie looked at him before shaking her head.

“I don’t know why I’m surprised. But I did find some paperwork that pulled Adrien out of school until this is resolved.” Nathalie said and suddenly looked down as a ping was heard from her tablet. _Of course he wouldn’t be at school, and I don’t want to think about what you’re saying you little brat. I can’t wait until we can get rid of you_. She thought as she read the message before raising her head. “And Lila just called, Adrien wasn’t at school and she’s wondering how she should deal with what happened at the shoot?”

Gabriel scowled and turned away, a headache forming as he tried and failed to keep his anger down. “For now tell her to say nothing, what about the report I asked for about her?”

“The agent I sent replied that he had to track down one more witness and he would have a full report soon. I expect that given her character we’ll have more ammo to use against her.” Nathalie said and Gabriel nodded. He got up and moved towards the painting of his wife and stood there for a few seconds until Nathalie spoke up. “Sir?”

“I expect the court case against Miss Marinette to happen before the matter with Adrien so look over everything, get the paperwork ready and check over everything, as far as I know nothing is wrong but make sure. As for me I’m going to see if I can’t pull a win out.” Gabriel said as he activated the hidden elevator and went to his lair. 

As Gabriel left the room Nathalie stood for a few moments there before leaving and going back to her desk in the front hall. As she sat down she held her head and sighed. _I don’t know but I have such a strange feeling about this, something about this is bothering me but what………okay Nathalie what did the old man say, “if something is bothering you then look over what is and talk to a ducky.’_ Nathalie though as she released a little giggle. “Okay then lets look over this from the begging, all the paperwork and identify everything, no matter how obvious it seems, write everything down.”

As Nathalie started to look over Adrien’s contract, she felt something in her, a sign that this was what was what had been bothering her. As her phone beeped in a certain pattern she sighed as she reached for it. “Okay, what have you made out of someone this time?”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A pack of five dogs each the size of a car ran through Paris as people screamed and behind them a dog the size of a truck with a man in a green bodysuit with a black paw on his chest, a canine like face mask with his mouth open and golden armor on his shoulders and legs with his hands covered by clawed gauntlets with a whip in his left hand that he was cracking in the air as he laughed at the chaos. “Nobody cares about the dogs as long as they stay away from people, well Pack Leader will show you how much chaos they can cause! Well I’ll show you just how much effort it needs to deal with them in Paris brat!”

One of the dogs started to scratch at a glass window to a grocery store scoring the glass with the dogs claws as another one growled and barked at a cat painted onto a billboard above a building and as people ran away or into buildings. As they stared out at the chaos as smaller dogs ran around the bigger ones and as the Pack Leader noticed them and cracked his whip at them sending a bolt of energy that caused them to grow as big as the car size ones and start to run around with the others. As Pack Leader laughed a butterfly energy mask formed over his face.

**“Well done Pack Leader, but remember our deal, gain the Miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir and in exchange I will give you the power to show how powerful and destructive Dogs really are.”** Hawkmoth said and the Pack Leader howled and his dogs joined in.

“Of course Alpha Hawkmoth, I’ll bring you their Miraculous in exchange for this power you’ve given me!” Pack Leader said as the dogs around him roared. 

“Keep calling others my pack, once all the dogs in Paris are one of use then we will show world how powerful the canine order really is.” He said before he raised his head and howled to the sky as the dog he was riding and the others all started to howl, calling others to join the pack. 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Adrien looked at Marinette who sat on the sofa and held her head. Nino and Alya had left a few minutes ago, both of them shocked and horrified that they had been taken in by such a liar and after promising that they would talk after school, both had left, Alya to go to her home and Nino had gone to pick up as he said, ‘a few items for the fam.’ As Adrien looked at her he looked around, trying to find anything to keep Marinette’s mind off Lila.

“So, homeschool hu? A few of those programs Chloe dropped off had group projects……” Adrien said and Marinette looked up at him and smiled. “So maybe we could look them over and maybe compare notes and thoughts? I can tell you as someone who was homeschool for most of his life that the programs are great for going at your own rate.”

“So how was public school for you compared to that?” Marinette asked and Adrien grinned a little.

“It was good; the teacher understood and explained everything to me in a great way. But the best thing about public school was I wasn’t alone anymore, that was what really bothered me the most.” Adrien said as Marinette looked at him and smiled back at him before she realized something about that was bothering her.

“But wasn’t Chloe your friend, didn’t you see her sometimes?” Marinette asked and Adrien looked at her before aboting a strange look as he started to think.

“You know, now that I think about it, it was mainly over the computer on live chats that I saw Chloe the most, maybe in person once a month or so. And now that I’m thinking about it that was when mom was still around.” Adrien said and he frowned, his mind going strange places as he felt he was on the cusp of understanding something. “And I think it was her idea, that I be homeschool in the first place.”

“Adrien?” Marinette asked in worry but before he could say anything their phones started to ring. _That’s the Akuma alarm!_ Marinette thought in horror, wondering how she would be able to justify get away from Adrien.

Adrien looked down at his phone as it the alert sounded and he looked at Marinette who paled and turned to him. _How am I going to be able to get away and help Ladybug?_ Adrien thought with as he paled and Marinette started to speak.

“I have to go and make sure that the door to the balcony is closed, Adrien will you be okay?” Marinette asked and Adrien nodded. 

“Yeah, dad always told me to hide when this happens, so I think I’ll hide in the guest room, and lock the door.” Adrien said as he rushed away and Marinette rushed to her room. As soon as she reached her room she closed and locked her door down and turned as Tikki appeared and looked at her.

“I don’t like this, after yesterday he should have given us a least a day, is he getting desperate?” Marinette asked and Tikki shook all over. “Tikki, what is it?”

“It’s possible for us to use our abilities at most ten times a day with no problems as long as we don’t push it too hard, and by abilities I mean Lucky Charm.” Tikki said and Marinette looked at her in shock. “If we go over that it could damage our Miraculous and then our chosen might get hurt!”

“How bad, how bad could it get.” Marinette asked as she looked at Tikki who looked conflicted as she floated there.” Tikki, please. Everything in me is telling me that this is important that I know it.”

“Deadly. In the past when people pushed the Miraculous beyond our limits, they’ve fallen asleep and just wasted away, never waking up.” Tikki said and looked conflicted as she looked at Marinette.

“And the Guardians couldn’t do anything to help?” Marinette asked as she felt something in her, a strange feeling that she couldn’t understand blossoming in her.

“My Miraculous and Plagg’s, we’ve never pushed them that far but when it happens to the others they retreat into the damaged Miraculous………the Guardians say they are only able to recover them after the chosen has died.” Tikki said and she looked at Marinette’s face. “Marinette, what is it?”

“I don’t know Tikki, but something is telling me that I had to hear that.” Marinette thought and looked at Tikki, a strange look in her eyes as her subconscious made connections, connections that she didn’t fully see swirling around her mind. “We can deal with it latter, for now Tikki, Spots on!”

As Marinette transformed into Ladybug she looked at her open doorway and jumped out onto the balcony and looked around and nodded. 

“Here we go!” As she jumped out of her room as she had done multiple times before she collided with something and they both landed on the room next door. As Ladybug opened her eyes she saw she was staring into Chat Noir’s eyes, and he seemed as shocked as she was. “Chat, what happened, why did we?”

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As Adrien closed the door Plagg shot out of his shirt pocket and floated in front of his chosen.

“Man I can’t believe that guy, doesn’t he know to rest for a day or two after what happened yesterday!” Plagg complained and Adrien looked at his kwami and shook his head.

“Yeah, after what happened you’d think Hawkmoth would know when to take a breather. Still he is persentint.” Adrien said and Plagg looked at him with a glare. “Plagg, what is it? I mean I can handle another Akuma everyday if you can.”

  
“That’s not the problem kid, look. Our Miraculous, they channel a lot of energy and magic when we transform and use our power, it’s possible to go over our limits and when that happens……bad things happen to the wielders.” Plagg said and he shuddered as he looked at Adrien.

“How bad Plagg, how bad could it be?” Adrien asked as he stared straight at Plagg who floated silently for a few moments before replying.

“Everyone who’s pushed it past to that point, they’ve always fallen asleep and just died.” Plagg said and Adrien went still. “The Guardians have always brought the Miraculous back after the chosen died and they spend years repairing the Miraculous but every Kwami who’s fought with someone who’s gone that fall are always so sad.”

Adrien looked at Plagg as he talked, not hearing him as he made connections in his mind, hoping he was wrong.

“Can another person then use the damaged Miraculous.” Adrien asked and Plagg floated there, looking confused as he tried to figure out what Adrien meant.

“What are you talking about?” Plagg asked and Adrien looked at Plagg with a hard look.

“Plagg, please I hope I’m wrong but this is important!” Adrien said and Plagg swallowed and started to think for a few seconds before he nodded.

“I don’t know, but if someone does use it then they might weaken over time, I know that Fu would have the answers.” Plagg said as he floated there and tried to figure out what his kitten was talking about. “But kid what is this about?”

“Mayura, how she acted the other day.” Adrien said as Plagg looked at him and gasped.

“You don’t think she’s using a damaged Miraculous, but Dossu had to have told her the damage and what…….no.” Plagg said as his eyes became pinpricks as he dropped a few inches before he caught himself. “That’s it, that’s how he found out and why she just appeared now. From what the others said when their Miraculous were damaged their holder’s fell they were only called back by the Guardians after they got back to the temple, if Hawkmoth and Mayura are after ours for the wish to do that then theire even more twisted then I thought!”

“Yeah I think so too, all this chaos and he has a worthy reason for all of this. So that’s what he meant when he said he had nothing to lose.” Adrien said and Plagg looked at him and Adrien looked at him with a somber look. “What wouldn’t you do for your sugar cube Plagg?”

“Everything and more, but not this! The wish isn’t like with a genie kid, its balance, harmony! Like that anime Full Metal Alchemist, to gain something must be lost! For someone to be healed, someone who is just as important to both the wisher and the person being healed is struck down with what the person they’re saving had!” Plagg said and Adrien stared at the Kwami of Destruction in shock at what he had been told.

“Oh shit. We have to tell Ladybug about this, now!” Adrien said as Plagg nodded. 

“Yeah and Fu, this might be beyond anything I thought he might have been after! If there’s anything in that book that might tell us anything, anything at all then we might have a chance to stop him!” Plagg said and Adrien nodded.

“Then let’s do it. Plagg Claws Out!” Adrien said as he transformed into Chat Noir. As he opened the window he had chosen yesterday he jumped up but never saw Ladybug until the two of them collided and fell to the roof of the building next door. As Chat Noir opened his eyes he stared into Ladybug’s blue eyes and felt something as a lot of things suddenly made sense and a puzzle. _Why did it have to be her, out of all people why her? I always hoped that maybe her guy wasn’t that good a person but Luka’s a great person! I guess my crush just has to die._ Chat Noir thought as he looked at his partner in battle and fought down a wince.

“Chat, what happened, why did we?” Ladybug asked and Chat Noir sighed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I bet a lot of you hate this, this cliffhanger I’m leaving you all with, well don’t worry I’ll have the other half of this up sometime next weak, and the early chapter is out on Patreon at the lowest rank, and I will have a details on that page.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet a lot of you hate this! This is my first real cliffhanger that I’m leaving you all with, well don’t worry I’ll have the other half of this up sometime next week, probably. Good day and stay healthy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir tells Ladybug who they each are and they quickly discover they will need the most help ever to deal with this Akuma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is Chapter 4 of the story, and I’m so happy to have all your support! And before we get to the good part let me say a few things, first, yes English is my first language and I have no beta reader and I’m going by Microsoft Word to make sure that the words are right, I’m thinking about getting a Grammerly account so the quality might get better for those who've commentated about the mess with spelling and I will work over the past few chapters and fix them. And finally when this story is over I will have an announcement for Fanfiction AO3 readers, so that’s it and everyone enjoy!

“We both just came from the same building…….Marinette.” Chat Noir said and Ladybug went still and stared at him for a few seconds and jumped back and gasped as she looked at him. Chat Noir got back to his feet and looked at her as she stammered and felt his insides melt and forced himself to try and let go of them, he wouldn’t get in the way of Marinette’s relationship with Luka, he couldn’t hurt his partner like that.

“But Gorilla, same place building! How that?” Ladybug stammered as she stared into space, thousands of little things jolting into place. 

“A little help from a fan of mine to get away from the mob and well it worked out better than I thought partner.” Chat Noir admitted and Ladybug looked at him in total shock. _It must be a letdown that it’s me._

A loud howl caused them both to look towards where the sound had come from and Ladybug shook herself and reached for Chat Noir’s hand and he pulled her up, she fought down a blush and slapped herself. “Later, we can talk that later, right now we have an Akuma to deal with!”

“Lead the way Mi…..Ladybug.” Chat Noir said as Ladybug jumped away, not letting it show that he didn’t call her Milady bother her.

As they ran over the Paris skyline they soon came across the Akuma and his dogs. Looking down at the scene Ladybug swallowed as they saw the Pack Master recruit another dog.

“This is bad, a canine Mister Pigeon.” Ladybug said as Chat Noir chuckled.

“Well at least I’m not allergic to dogs at least.” Chat Noir said with a grin. “But this cat doesn’t want to be chased up a tree.”

Ladybug fought down a giggle and shook her head and smiled at Chat Noir before shaking her head. _Okay how will we handle this, how can we deal with them all? Maybe if we can get the dogs somewhere they won’t be able to escape from easy………the stadium if we can get them there we can handle……..what’s he doing?_ Ladybug thought as they saw Pack Master crack his whip at a dog and it grow to the size of a car.

“So that’s his ability, think he’s like Mr. Pigeon?” Chat Noir asked and Ladybug shook her head after a few moments of thought.

“No, I think he’s one of the dog catchers. But how did he turn?” Ladybug asked before a howl caused them to cringe before looking down and see the dogs and the Akuma looking at them.

“Ladybug, Chat Noir! Hand over your Miraculous and let the pack rule over Paris! So commands Pack Leader!” Pack Leader barked at them and Ladybug scowled as the dogs started to try and climb up the rooftops. “Get them my pets, get them!”

As the dogs tried to climb up Chat Noir grabbed Ladybug’s shoulder and pointed towards a large nearby building and Ladybug nodded and they were off, the dogs following after them.

“We have to find out what they can do, we have to hide!” Chat Noir said as reached the building. As they moved over the building Chat Noir spotted a rooftop terrace and grabbed Ladybug’s shoulder, pointing at it and she nodded and they hid and waited. 

As they watched the dogs came around both sides and looked around, growling as the Pack Leader and his mount came around the building he whistled and then the dogs all started to sniff the air. The Pack Leader’s eyes glowed blue and then he laughed.

“There, get them my pack!” The Akuma screeched and point his whip at their hiding place. 

“Move!” Ladybug cried as she and Chat Noir shot away from the roof as the dogs started to bark and try and climb after them. As they ran along the Paris skyline they looked back and saw they were being followed, the Pack Leader in the back with his pack chasing after them. “How can we get away from them?”

“I don’t know! That Akuma can control them and I think it might be able to share their senses, that’s how he knew where we were. Lucky he doesn’t seem to have increased their minds much when he made them bigger!” Chat Noir said as he vaulted over a building as Ladybug swung next to him. _How can we get away from him to try and make a plan? I mean we need something to give us an edge, we need backup._ Chat Noir thought as they ran over the roof tops. After losing the dogs they started to slow down and A feline screech from below caused them to stop and see a lone car-sized dog menacing a cat in front of a cardboard box on its side.

“What’s happening?” Ladybug asked as they watched and saw the dog bat the cat away and move towards the box. “Why was that cat attacked? Chat?”

“No, that’s! Get away from them!” Chat Noir roared and jumped at the dog with his baton extended and a look of rage on his face.

“Chat!” Ladybug called out looked at him as he attacked the dog and started to protect the box. _Why is he……wait this is along his path to school, then that box!_ Her thoughts died as she jumped towards the flung cat and picked it up and hearing a barking saw two more of the large dogs running towards them. “Grab the box and let’s get out of here Chat!” 

Chat Noir batted the dog away and grabbed the box and they both jumped back to the roof and dashed along the skyline, the barking behind them caused her to look at him and then into the box, smiling as she saw three little kittens in it.

“So then these are the cats you talked about a few days ago?” Ladybug asked and Chat Noir nodded.

“Yeah, sorry for acting without telling you, but that dog looked hungry.” Chat Noir said and Ladybug nodded as she watched him put the mother with her babies before going still.

“Why did that dog attack the cats?” Ladybug asked and Chat looked up from the box.

“What do you mean……… the Akuma couldn’t have known we were nearby, then that means he can only give commands to the dogs, but they still response like the animals they are.” Chat Noir said and looked at Ladybug with a smirk. “And maybe distance is a factor too!”

“So we can slip away and get him from behind!” Ladybug said and looked down at the kittens before smiling at them. “After we get these little guys somewhere safe.”

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Later Chat Noir and Ladybug moved along the rooftops towards the sound of the barking quietly. As they reached a building that overlooked the where the backing came from. They saw four dogs looking around a plaza with a fountain in it, empty of other people and they found the Pack Leader and his mount, the truck sized dog drinking form the fountain looking away from them. 

“This might be the best change we have, I think I can reach the whip and destroy it, that should give us the

and the Pack Leader was looking around away from them when suddenly his head shot up and looked towards them.

“Get them!” Pack Leader called without turning his head and two of the dogs jumped and attacked them! Chat Noir used his baton to fend his off while Ladybug jumped over hers and used her yoyo to cause it to stumble and threw it into the one attacking Chat Noir, sending them to street level. 

“Come on, we can lose them at the Grand Palais!” Ladybug said as she discreetly put a thumb down and nodded when she saw that he had seen it.

“GO MY PACK, AFTER THEM!” Pack Leader roared and his truck sized mount howled to the sky and answering howls came back, Ladybug and Chat Noir running away from the site. As the Pack Master stood there and listened to his minions howling, an energy butterfly mask formed over his face.

**“Why did you let them go?!”** Hawkmoth’s voice thundered through Pack Leader’s head and he grunted and gestured for his mount to move.

“I overheard where they’re going, I will get what you want Hawkmoth, don’t worry.” Pack Leader said as his mount started to carry him as the four dogs followed.

“ **Don’t be too sure, they retreat now but they will be back and they will have a plan.”** Hawkmoth said and the Akuma laughed.

“I sent my pack out to find them, and they don’t know all of my abilities yet.” Pack Leader said and he clenched his free hand and smiled as his mount tensed beneath him.

**“But how do you know that they’ll really go there, that they didn’t trick you?”** Hawkmoth asked and Pack Leader scoffed and his eyes started to glow.

“Because their scents……don’t go the right way.” Pack Leader trailed off as Hawkmoth’s mask disappeared from his face.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

“Think he figured it out yet?” Chat Noir asked only for a howl of rage to sound across Paris that caused him to frown. “Faster than I thought and we need to talk about how he found us back there.”

“He can see through the eyes of his dogs, but only when their near him.” Ladybug said as she nodded at Chat Noir. “But we need to find a way to keep him still so we can destroy the whip.”

Chat nodded and looked at the city, trying to think of how they could do that. _Maybe Chloe could help us, her Venom could paralyze it and then….._ His thoughts died when he heard a sudden crash caused them to turn and see smoke rising in the distance. A beeping caused them to look at their weapons, opening them to their cellphone setting they quickly brought up the Ladyblog and saw a video of Pack Leader slashing out with his right hand and send bolts of green energy at a truck.

“Alya!” Ladybug said as she stared at it in anger. “How did they get there from the house so fast, and why does she always run towards danger!?”

“Don’t know Ladybug, that’s just who she is?” Chat Noir said and suddenly understood why she was always concerned about her getting into trouble like this. _I should have seen it, it’s so obvious! Still how are we going to…..wait that’s?!_ Chat Noir stopped thinking as he saw where the Pack Leader was going. “That’s nearby, we have moments before he gets here, time for a bit of luck.”

“Right, Lucky Charm!” Ladybug cried and threw her yoyo upwards. As the energy coeleeed around it a shadow formed and fell towards them, the two of them moving away as the Charm hit the rooftop. 

Chat Noir looked down at the red and black spotted massage bed and then at the dogs for a few moments before turning to look at Ladybug.

“Does that mean what I think it does my….Ladybug?” Chat Noir asked and Ladybug nodded. 

“We need help, this might be bad…….Hawkmoth can use that Akuma’s minions to track us right to the Guardian!” Ladybug said as they looked down at the

“We can get around this…….how long will it take for yours to recharge?” Chat Noir asked and Ladybug looked at him before nodding as she understood what he was saying.

“The same as yours, the plan?” Ladybug asked as she looked around, hearing the first beep that told her she was on a time limit.

“I’ll make a distraction and led them towards the bridge to the ‘Tower. You get away and get to the guardian. This is big bug; we need a lot of help.” Chat Noir said and Ladybug looked out and hearing the sound of barks coming closer she nodded before grabbing Chat Noir in a hug.

“Good luck Kitty.” She said and he looked at her hair in confusion before

“You too bug, we need Pegasus, Rena Rouge and Chloe.” Chat Noir said and Ladybug looked at him before her eyes widened and smiled at him.

“Yeah, and Carapace for that claw….……I think I know how we can beat this with their help!” Ladybug said as she grinned at him, another beep caused her to look around for a place to transform back.

“Good luck, I’ll meet you at the Arc to pick up Chloe’s and Max’s.” Chat Noir said as he jumped away and ran along the rooftops, calling out when he saw a dog and Ladybug jumped away and found a place to detransform in privacy. As she fed Tikki a cookie she looked around away from the edge.

“What is it Marinette?” Tikki asked as she ate the cookie. _This had to happen sooner or later, and this will be good in the long run._

“I just can’t believe he’s Chat, I mean I knew he was hiding a lot of his reactions but…..” Marinette said and sighed and looked away. _And that’s a lot to think about….but he’s right we need help and with how powerful this one is we need everyone! Should I get Luka and Kagami too, no four is more than enough. But how can I find Max…….the app!_ She thought and grinned. “I need to find out what happened to the class, so I guess it’s time for a roll call.”

Marinette got out her phone and activated a chat app and sent out a message.

BakerDaughter; I just got my room closed and fixed, is everyone okay, besides Alya and maybe Nino?

AmazonSkater; Marinette are you okay? With what happened are you sure you want do this for us?

Private message to BakerDaughter from AmazonSkater; Mari, I’m so ashamed that I let that happen without speaking up, if you need me for anything let me know, okay?

BakerDaughter; No matter what happened to me, you all are my friends, so I’m making sure your all safe

PrincessBee; She’s a sickeningly sweet person, get used to it. I’m perfectly safe at the hotel, last I saw Sabrina and her dad went out for a meal.

Private message to BakerDaughter from PrincessBee; Thanks, dad’s at the office and the hotel has dropped the metal shudders and everyone is hiding in windowless rooms, stay safe with him okay?

PoliceChild; Dad and I are at a restaurant near the Saline, we helped everyone else to barricade the doors and windows, and most of us are hiding in the basement

Private message to BakerDaughter from PoliceChild; You and your parents got the stuff Chloe and I found, right? There were some good programs that had groups projects, dad even liked a few of them so maybe we could talk together about it?

HorrorFoe; Kitty Select is all mostly at the boat, we wanted to talk about a few things away from the school and the others are helping Miss Couffaine get the boat away from the docks, we got as many people who could reach us and are heading for an island in the river to anchor and ride this out.

AmazonSkater; I saw Nat head to the Library with Marci to work on their project, and I think muscles went to the gym and I know Max went home for lunch and to recharge Markov. Dad picked me up, I’m at the musiem with him and Jalil and we’re hiding out.

RockRocker; Everyone at school is in the basement, students and teachers alike, Miss Mend took charge and brought everyone down here, Mr. D and Mr. H are barricading the doors.

Private message to BakerDaughter from SimianSimmer; Sorry for not speaking up, I never thought that Owl would do anything like that, I’ll be turning this off and deleting the conversation, don’t want Lila to see it. I texted my mom before this so I’ll say that happened, Kim is distracting Lila with Aurora so sorry again.

Brainy; Hey, yeah I’m at my home, I’ve locked down all the doors and Markov is all charged up and is handling our security system

Private message to BakerDaughter from Brainy; Sorry about believing the paper napkin then, in my defense I hadn’t slept over the weakend, research. If you need a witness call on me, please.

Marinette felt a tear leave her eyes. _Lila won’t win, I’ll still have them when this is over, I might not be in class with them but their still my friends!_ Marintte thought as she sniffled and gained a smirk as she realized no matter what Lila did, her friends still believed in her, and she sent off a few private messages before closing the app.

Private message to HorrorFoe; Stay safe and thanks for that, I hope the Akuma stays away from the boat.

Private message to PoliceChild; Thanks for what you got me, and we should talk about it.

Private message to Brainy from BakerDaughter; When it happens and if we need character witness then you’re one of them, thanks.

“You have good friends Marinette, and they’ll stay with you, I know it.” Tikki said causing Marinette to smile and looked at Tikki as she finished the cookie as she finished typing a general reply.

BakerDaughter; Going silent guys, stay safe all of you!

Marinette closed her phone and looked at Tikki with a smile. “This is going to be a bit easier then I feared.”

“Then let’s go!” Tikki said as she summersaulted and giggled.

“Right Tikki, Spots on!” Marinette said as she called out her transformation phase.

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Chat Noir ran along the rooftops, calling down to the dogs as they chased him along the streets. Looking over his shoulder he saw the Akuma screech as he looked over his shoulder, seeing the car sized dogs were all following him.

“After him my pack, after him!” Pack Leader screeched as his mount barked and the dogs speed up to follow his command. As Chat Noir reached the Saline he ran across the bridge, the dogs at his but heals but he pole vaulted to a building’s roof just at the river’s edge and ran away from the dogs, looking for the perfect place to slip back and strand them. Suddenly his instincts caused him to lung forwards and he saw an energy slash fly over his head and looked down and saw the Pack Leader panting as he glared. “You….Won’t get away, faster my beast!”

“HOOOWWWLL!” As the truck sized dog howled Chat Noir ran faster, hoping that he would get away from the Akuma, planning as he went. Turning to the left suddenly he ran towards a lot behind a small street.

“Get away, you’ve got to get to cover!” Chat Noir cried and Pack Leader laughed and howled, his pack thundering down the side street towards the lot.

“That’s perfect cat, once again you…..where’d he go?” Pack Leader said as he looked around and saw that the lot where he thought Chat Noir had gone to save civilians was empty of anyone or thing. 

**“Get back to the bridge, he’s going to destroy it!”** Hawkmoth’s voice thundered as his mask appeared over Pack Leader’s face and Pack Leader went white and roared, his hounds moving back towards the bridge, barking as they ran

As Chat Noir heard the sound of barking he looked over his shoulder and saw the dogs running behind him, Pack Leader just coming around and went still as he saw Chat Noir on the bridge, his free hand raised.

“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir cried out as he slammed his black glowing hand onto the bridge, quickly pole vaulting as his power moved along the bridge as the dogs chasing him stopped, feeling an insticual sense that something was wrong, turning and running back to the land. As the bridge disintegrated a few fell into the river and swam back to the shore as Pack Leader and his mount came and swore at Chat Noir from across the river.

“You won’t escape, I’ll find you and Ladybug!” Pack Leader screeched as Chat ran down the street as Pack Leader watched until he disappeared from sight and then gestured for the dogs to move towards another bridge, as he was carried off Hawkmoth’s mark appeared again and Pack Leader scowled. “You could have seen that was what he planned sooner you know!”

**“I told you that he was distracting you, when you couldn’t see Ladybug you should have known something was up!”** Hawkmoth said and Pack Leader bristled.

“Well sorry but tracking and taking down Superhero’s isn’t something I studied to be a vet!” Pack Leader said as he looked across the river and frowned when he thought he saw something glint in the sunlight for a second, shaking his head he howled and ten of his dogs charged ahead to find anyway they could across the Saline river. “Don’t worry Hawkmoth I will get what you want, I swear it!”

**“Remember Pack Leader, I can take away your powers and leave you with nothing, and what will happen to the dogs then?”** Hawkmoth’s question caused Pack Leader

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Ladybug reached the cinema that she had last seen Master Fu at and jumped into an alley and dropped her transformation, Tikki hid in her purse and ran along alleyway until she made it to a door, stopping she looked around, making sure that there weren’t any dogs or people around she knocked on the cinema. After a few moments the door opened and Master Fu looked up at her.

“Marinette, oh I thought I might see you because of this one.” Fu said and let her into the building.

“Master Fu, I was worried that I wouldn’t find you here.” Marinette said as she looked around and saw a camera on the wall recording them. “That you let me in won’t cause you much trouble with the owner will it?”

“Don’t worry, I’m the owner. And I had the others bring in as many people as they could so their off the streets and they’re playing an old movie from a few years ago, partly to see if I should do an ‘oldies’ set. ” Fu said and Marinette looked at him in shock, he only shrugged. “What, the long life I led gave me a few chances to invest here and there, I made a good nest egg that I used to buy this place and a few others here and when he began he attacks.”

“We can talk about that later, this Akuma is so powerful we need a lot of help, and yours.”

“A lot of help…… which Miraculous do you need?” Fu asked as he led her into a staircase he opened with a keycard and down to a small room with all the furniture from his old room at his message pallor, with the phonograph in the center. As he opened it and revealed the Miraculous box which opened and he gestured to it.

“The Fox, the Horse, the Turtle and the Bee.” Marinette said and Fu whistled as and looked at her for a few moments. “Master Fu?”

“It has been a long time since so many Miraculous were active at the same time, not since that mass attack…….but if you think that they are all needed then yes I will send them out into the world.” Fu said and gestured towards the Miraculous as he took his off.

“Thank you Master Fu.” Marinette said and bowed to him.

“Don’t worry my dear, just be safe and make sure they are too. And here are two bags to carry them in.” Fu said as he gestured towards them. As Marinette put the bags to use Fu hid a frown and looked at her, something within him telling him that she was troubled and hiding something from him. W _hatever it is I’ll ask her after she comes back, that way I can get an answer about what’s bothering her. I just hope it isn’t too bad._ Fu thought as he watched Marinette go back up the stairs and realized something and reached for a nearby cabinet. “Oh, wait a moment Marinette, I have a few snacks for them, take them with you.”

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Chat Noir dashed along the rooftops and looked around, watching as some brave people ran about below him, helping others get to safety while they could. As he ran a smirk started growing as he saw the people come together. _That’s why I love this town, like on hero day the city comes together to help each other!_ _And now to do my part._ He thought as he reached the Arc and saw Ladybug with a small bag over her shoulder and one in her hands, one small box opened and she closed it before handing it to him.

“Here are the Miraculous for Chloe and Pegasus, they’re at the hotel and home respectfully.” Ladybug said and Chat Noir nodded at her. “Master Fu put some food for them so they can recharge if we have to.”

“Good, got it Ladybug, I led Pack Leader across the river and destroyed the bridge we used. I last saw him and his pack heading east and we’ll probably see them again soon. Where should I take them to meet up?” Chat Noir asked nad Ladybug looked around the city before nodding.

“The stadium, that’s where we’ll meet up. With luck we can make a plan there.” Ladybug said as she looked at him, the sound of barking causing them to tense. “Good luck kitty, I’ll try and get to Carapace and Rena without letting the dogs see me.”

“You too bug.” Chat Noir said as he nodded before dashing off towards the help the two of them needed.

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Max looked around his house and frowned as he sat down in his room, his mind going over everything that he knew about Lila, not liking anything. _Fact, once she came back from her ‘vacation’ she immediately started to make up stories. Fact, I wear glasses, so anything thrown at my eyes would hit them first. Fact, since then she’s tried to monopolize Adrien’s time. Fact, she’s made comments that while on the surface don’t seem to be evil they sometimes presented Marinette in a bad light. Results; Lila has been conducting a campaign against Marinette and getting her expelled was the final step………why? Was it because Marinette was the only one who saw through her lies……and we didn’t believe her. And if she’s trying to isolate Adrien, then he either knows too and didn’t think we’d believe him and/or Lila was after him from the start._ Max thought as he tried to come to terms with what he had figured out.

“This is terrible; I mean I can’t believe it!” Max said as he stood up and walked carefully around his room, stepping over the various projects he had on the ground. “How did I let myself ignore the evidence before me, what’s wrong with me?”

“What is it Max?” Markov asked as he flew after Max who looked out his window.

“Lila, she’s been after Marinette since she got back! And I’ll bet that the string of events that caused Marinette’s expulsion were all done on purpose! A necklace that was an heirloom, and why didn’t she make a bigger stink about it being stolen the day it happened, why only bring it up after the test and her falling down the stairs? It had to have been planned, all of it!” Max said with a glare and shook his head. “And I was too shocked to even say anything when it happened, Ivan and Kim went to talk to Mr. Damocles and I just went home to eat.”

“Max, you were shocked and confused, it did make sense to go over everything where you take time…….. and with the attack school will be canceled for the rest of the day to deal.” Markov said and Max sighed and shook his head.

“There has to be something we can find to help Marinette. There has to be something!” Max said and Markov hovered.

“Max, at least she seemed happy over the chat app, and if she’s still fighting.” Markov said and Max nodded. “All we have to do is……why is Chat Noir here?”

“What?” Max asked and turned his head to look at Markov as he hovered there.

“Chat Noir is running towards the house, I don’t see the anything and according to the alert the Akuma is far away, why would he be here……..” Markov trailed off as Max went still. “Max?”

“I can only thing of one reason that he would be here, and if I’m right then I need you to wait here Markov.” Max said as he walked out of his room. Markov hovered before going to the computer and hooked himself to the computer, readying himself with what the two of them had talked about.

Chat Noir landed on Max’s roof and was wondering how to let him know he was there when Max walked onto the roof from a door.

“Chat Noir, what’s wrong, do you need my help?” Max asked as Chat Noir looked at him before holding up a box.

“Max Kanté, this is the Miraculous of the Horse with the Power of Teleportation. I trust that with this to help us handle this threat. Afterworlds you will give this back, can we trust you to return this to us?” Chat Noir asked with a smirk and Max nodded.

“Yes, anything I can do to help and make up for my inaction, I will.” Max said and Chat looked at him.

“Inaction, did something happen that you could have stopped but didn’t?” Chat asked in a sclueless manor and Max nodded.

“There’s this girl at school, Lila. She………….I’m almost a hundred percent sure that she got a friend of mine expelled on purpose.” Max said with a growl. Chat Noir nodded impassively, inwardly thanking all his model experience that let him keep what he was feeling off his face.

“People are complicated, I can’t say anything about what happened to your friend, but I can say that the only way to go forward is to acknowledge what you did wrong.” Chat Noir said trying to sound wise.

“Thanks, let’s do this.” Max said as he opened the box.

As soon as Max opened the box a ball of light formed above a pair of glasses with circular frames and a small creature with a gray head with a white mane, muzzle, arms, legs, and underbelly formed from it. She had light green eyes, eyelashes, pointed horse ears with white insides, and a thick white tail that curves outwards.

“Greetings again Master Kanté, how have you been?” Kaalki asked and Max grinned as he took off his glasses and put them into a pocket as he took up the Miraculous

“Kaalki, Full Gallop!” Max called out. As he thrust his arms out a black bodysuit formed from his hands and feet crawling up his body while his shoes formed two wing spikes on the back. As the suit formed, his hair chased to a lighter brown color and braided into dreadlocks. As Pegasus looked at Chat Noir he grinned back. “Ready to help and Markov is ready to do any long-range hacking from my room, what’s the plan?”

“For now we need to get Queen Bee, she’s needed for this to work.” Chat Noir said and Pegasus winced and nodded. 

“This must be a real problem if you and Ladybug need two helpers.” Pegasus said and Chat laughed a little.

“You have no idea my friend, no idea.” Chat Noir said and jumped to another building, Pegasus following behind him a little confused.

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Alya looked around the alley she and Nino were hiding in and sighed as she saw that the dogs were still gone. “Okay, we can try for one of our homes or maybe find a place to let us in.”

“Shelter in place, that’s what the mayor said and don’t let anyone in after you see an Akuma, remember Alya?” Nino said as he looked around.

“Yeah…… I forgot about that. Who knew that zombies could scare people so much?” Alya said with a shrug. Nino just shook his head at his girlfriend’s joke.

“I don’t know what I expect when this year began, but seeing a zombie apocalypse of kissing zombies wasn’t it.” Nino said flatly and Alya laughed shakily as she looked around and tried to spot anything, he was keeping his ears open for any sign of any dogs.

“Didn’t expect anything like this when mom moved us here for her job. And then there’s what we both share you know?” Alya asked, using the code word they had chosen for what Ladybug had given them, the chance she had taken by trusting them.

“There you are, quick over here!” A voice farther down the alley caused them to turn and see Ladybug looked at them from behind a corner. The two of them looked at each other before rushing after her and followed Ladybug to a dead end alley with no windows, the sun overhead causing shadows to cover the alley in a gentle darkness.

“Ladybug, what is it?” Alya asked and Nino looked around, hoping to find a hint of what had caused Ladybug to call them here.

“I came because to beat this Akuma, Chat and I need help.” Ladybug said and Alya and Nino looked at each other before looking at Ladybug.

“Who do you need?” Alya asked and Ladybug grinned.

“Both of you. Alya Césaire, Nino Lahiffe; these are the Miraculous of the Fox and Turtle with the powers of Illusion and Protection. I am giving you these to protect the greater good; once this is done can I trust you two to return them to me?” Ladybug asked and Alya and Nino both nodded.

“Yeah, Ladydudette, you can trust me!” Nino said and Alya nodded as they accepted the two boxes.

“Same with me Ladybug, I’ll do everything I can to help!” Alya said and frowned a little. “But could we talk about something else later, could you come by my building tonight?”

“What is it?” Ladybug asked and Alya looked down.

“A girl named Lila made a lot of bosts and lies, one of them was saying that she was a friend of yours, your best friend.” Alya began and saw the frown form on Ladybug’s face. “But I’m thinking that was another lie, can you stop by tonight and give me a recording of what Lila really is, how she dealt with you?”

“For now we’ll need to focus on this Akuma, we can talk about that later. For now can I trust you to help?” Ladybug asked and Alya smirked back.

“Do you even have to ask?” Alya said as she opened her box as Nino did the same and two balls of light formed above them. From Alya’s ball a small fox creature and from Nino’s came a turtle.

“Nino!” Wayzz said with a grin as he appeared.

“Alya, how are you?” Trixx asked and Alya grinned as she put on the Fox Miraculous as Nino put the Turtle bracelet around his right wrist.

“Dude, it’s great to see you!” Nino said as he fist bumped with Wayzz as Trixx summersaulted and looked at Alya.

“Getting better Trixx, I fell for a few lies and let a witch get my best friend expelled.” Alya said causing Trixx to look at Wayzz who kept his face neutral. “I’m trying to help her now, and….I will make amends with her about this.”

“Once you know you’ve done wrong, if you make up for it, that’s the true mark of being a good person. Not doing good all the time, but knowing when you’ve done wrong and how you fix it.” Trixx said wisely causing Alya to look at her. “A lot of my heroes in the past have learned that lesson sooner or later.”

“Thanks Trixx, but let’s do this. Ready Nino?” Alya asked and Nino snorted.

“Ready dudette, let’s do it!” Nino said as he grinned at her. “Wayzz, Shell On!”

“Trixx, let’s pounce!” Alya called out with a grin.

As green energy flashed over Nino and orange energy flashed over Alya. As Nino gained a green bodysuit with a hoodie with silver semicircle on the front, curved red-eye designs on the sides with black and golden details, and two small light green ovals below the bottom of the hood's opening. Over his eyes, Carapace wears black goggles with yellow-green lenses, and underneath the suit, he has a black collar. On his suit, he has six hexagon-shaped light green circles on his chest, and he has dark gray hexagon-shaped protective pads on his shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. The Turtle Miraculous bracelet is on his right wrist. Also, Carapace wears dark green boots with an indent between his big toe and other toes, dark gray outsoles, and two indents on two sides of each boot. A shield of dark green on one side and light green on the other appeared on his back. Alya’s transformation left her in an orange bodysuit as her air grew longer, becomes a three-tone ombré, having the roots turn dark red/red-orange, mixing to orange with the tips being white, and she wears her hair back into a high ponytail with an orange headband, the top layer of her suit, akin to an overcoat, was orange with a white front, a black swan-necked collar, and black arms and gloves up to the middle of her upper arms. The overcoat layer attaches down the vertical front center with a zipper, and the Fox Miraculous becomes the zipper. The overcoat also has a long fox tail-like coattail that ends a bit below her knees at a sharp white tip. The bottom layer of her suit is orange with a white center on the front of the body and black legs starting at a point in the middle of her upper legs. She also wears black boots with orange soles and black fox paw print markings. Across her eyes was an orange mask with a white bottom half and a black mark above each eye and two orange fox ears with white insides, black tips, and black edges were attached to the top of her head. A Flute formed on her back as the transformation finished and the two fo them stood before Ladybug.

“What’s the plan Ladydudette?” Carapace asked as he drew his shield as Rena Rouge drew her flute.

“Follow, me we’ll meet with Chat and the others at the stadium, that’s where we’ll make a plan.” Ladybug said as she jumped up to the rooftops, Rena and Carapace following in her wake. As they moved over the rooftops, Rena moved with a frown on her face. _How bad is this one that all of us are needed, even Chloe? I just hope that it’s not as bad as I fear._ She thought before she heard a bark far behind them and they all moved faster.

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Chloe looked around her room and sighed. _Of course the Akuma did have to happen around the day after the attack, wonderful. I just can’t believe this! I just can’t!_ She thought as she looked around her room and shook her head. As she moved towards her desk and moved the few brochures about home schooling on them, the few that had group projects causing her to sigh. “And to think that my final limit would be hit before I left that place, I truly didn’t think that would happen.”

The sound of two people landing outside on her balcony caused her to turn and see Chat Noir and a figure with dark skin in a dark brown bodysuit with black glasses and light gray hair in dreads following as Chat Noir led the way into the room.

“Sorry to bother you Chloe but it really had to happen.” Chat said as he grinned at her.

“What’s the problem stray, and who’s that?” Chloe asked as the dreadlocked figure looked at her, she could tell that he was surprises at how she treated Chat Noir.

“The name’s Pegasus.” Pegasus said coolly and Chloe smirked a little.

“So what’s the problem, need to use the hotel as a part of the plan to take this Akuma down?” Chloe asked and Chat Noir shook his head.

“Not exactly.” Chat said as he reached into the bag he was carrying and removed a red box that caused her to gasp.

“You can’t be…..” Chloe trailed off as Chat Noir nodded.

“Yes. Chloe Bourgeois, this is the Miraculous of the Bee with the power of Subjection. You will use this to help us and afterwards you will give this back, can I trust you to do this?” Chat asked and Chloe nodded

“Of course! Anything to help Paris!” Chloe said as she took the box and opened it. a ball of light formed into a small yellow creature with two black antennae and three curved stripes wrap around her head and a lighter yellow tuff of fur around her neck, her arms and legs were solid black and her eyes were golden with blue sclerae.

“My Queen!” Pollen called as she hugged Chloe’s check. “How are you, is your hive okay?” Pollen asked as she nuzzled against Chloe who laughed a little.

“Better now that you’re here Pollen.” Chloe said softly as she laughed a little.

Pegasus only looked on, taking every bit of his control not to let his emotions show. _So Chloe has a tender side after all, I did not expect this. Goes to show you that people are complicated like Chat said, and I guess people have reasons for showing what sides they do._.

Pollen, Buzz On!” Chloe said before yellow energy engulfed her, forming first a black domino mask across her eyes From her shoes a golden glow started to go up her body, transforming her shoes into black boots that went to her knees while her clothing became a yellow suit that went up her neck with two black stripes on her thighs and three black stripes on her torso with the top one the size of a corset that stopped at the top of her breasts and the sleeves were black turning into gloves with yellow fingers, a spinning top and it’s string formed on her waist and Queen Bee stood there.

“So the plan needs help besides me then?” Queen Bee asked and Chat Noir nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll let Ladybug tell you the full plan but we REALLY needed the help with this one.” Chat Said and Pegasus looked at him as Chat Noir led the way to the edge of the roof. “Now we need to meet up at the stadium.”

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Ladybug, Carapace and Rena Rouge landed in front of the stadium and Ladybug looked around, sighing when she didn’t see any dogs. _Perfect, with this we might be able to do it_

“So what’s the plan Ladydudette?” Carapace asked as he grinned at her.

“We wait for the others, then we plan.” Ladybug said as she smiled and looked up.

“So the plan needs Queen Bee…..Who’s that?” Rena Rouge asked as she turned and saw Chat Noir, Queen Bee and Pegasus. As the three heroes landed Rena Rouge and Carapace could only look at the ‘new hero’.

“Greetings, I’m Pegasus nice to formally meet you both.” Pegasus said as he stood next to Chat Noir and Queen Bee. Rena Rouge only stared at him in shock, wondering where he had come from before Carapace nudged her and she shook herself.

“Rena Rouge, nice to meet you, this is Carapace.” Rena Rouge said and Carapace nodded.

“Sup dude, nice to meet you.” Carapace said and Pegasus nodded back.

“Thanks, Chat said this Akuma needed all of us so what’s the problem with it besides the attack and controlling the dogs?”

“He can see through their eyes and senses, he’s tracked us by scent before and when we thought we had him a dog saw us and he saw us through it.” Ladybug said as Chat Noir nodded.

“We need all your powers to handle this one. This one will have to be a team effort to survive.” Chat Noir said as the others looked around and saw how serious it was.

“So then why I’m needed makes sense then.” Pegasus said as he looked around. “We need to get the Akuma away from the dogs, yes?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time the Akuma Battle and they finally talk about who they are and Adrien learns a few things he didn't know


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle and after this a surprise from one of the part timers!

Pack Leader howled as he was carried up the street at the back of the pack, a scowl forming as he looked around. _Where are they?! They should have comeback and attacked me again, what are they planning?! Okay, think this through,_ _so all in all I have about thirty dogs, all but ten of them hunting down those heroes, where could they be?!_ He thought as he slashed out with his free hand and the energy slammed and exploded against a building and he smirked when he caught the scent of fear from the people within. The sound of a something falling caused him to snap his head and he saw Ladybug and Chat Noir looking down at him, a look of terror coming over their faces before they started to run away from him. “After them!”

As the dogs chased after the heroes Pack Leader reared his head back and howled, calling the rest of his minions to take part in the hunt. Above on the roof top far enough on the otherside so he couldn’t see her Rena Rouge ran, keeping step with her illusions of Ladybug and Chat Noir as they ran towards their objective. _I really hope that this works guys, I really do._ She thought as her mind went back to the plan they had created.

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_“So everyone is sure about what they have to do?” Chat Noir asked and the other heroes nodded. “Then let’s go over it from the top.”_

_“So I’m up first right?” Renan Rouge said with a smirk and Carapace looked at her in concern and she smirked at him. “Relax, everything goes right he won’t even see me.”_

_“But we need to be accurate; we need pinpoint timing. Everything has to go right to make this work.” Ladybug said as she looked at her allies. “One misstep and this plan will fail.”_

_“So let’s make sure we don’t stumble then.” Queen Bee said with a smirk._

_“Then first I get the dogs to chase my illusions.” Rena Rouge said. “Once they see me then I led them to where we need them for the next step.”_

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As the dogs thundered down the street Pack Leader kept back, a scowl as he looked up at the fleeing heroes, something was bothering him, as he watched Ladybug led Chat Noir over the rooftops. _what’s their plan? Lead me to a place where they can take down my dogs? If I send at least three of them after them then it will probably fail, but I still need to get their Miraculous for Hawkmoth, so if they have a plan I’ll just crush it and take the damn jewels from their unconscious bodies!_ Pack Leader thought as a grin formed on his face as he looked ahead and urged his mount faster. “Keep running cowards! Not matter what you do I will win! This is the day you fall, no matter what tricks you have dogs will finally beat the cat and the ladybug! You two can’t stop the might of the pack all by yourselves!”

“What about if there’s more of us? VOYAGE!” A voice caused him to look around as he sent a command for his dogs to track down the person who screamed out when suddenly a circular energy portal appeared in front of him and his mount went through it!

As the dogs stopped and looked around for their Alpha they never notice Pegasus looking out from an ally he had dashed to as soon as he had fired his Voyage and Rena Rouge dropping her Mirage as she grinned at what she had seen.

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_“That’s where I come in; my power will handle the next step.” Pegasus said. “Once he’s past me then I’ll send him and that dog he’s riding here.”_

_“This is still taking a risk, no other way to say it.” Chat Noir said with frown. “If he notices that something’s wrong, that it’s an illusions then he might try and attack you, and with your powers on time…….”_

_“And if he does I’m on hand to do plan B.” Pegasus interrupted. Carapace threw a glance at him and nodded, not trusting himself to speak but remembering Hero’s Day and understating that they couldn’t let that happen again. “I’ll get to Rena and transport us to a place we can recover and recharge and let you know what happened.”_

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As Pack Leader looked around in shock he recognized the green of the Paris Stadium and he was heard the calls of his beasts die down, causing him to look over his shoulder and see a portal close as he stare in shock. As Hawkmoth’s mask formed over his face he looked around, trying to find the heroes or anything to even hint at their plans.

**“What has happened!?”** Hawkmoth’s voice rang through Pack Leader’s head as his mount carried him around the greens.

“I don’t know, I’m at the Stadium and my dogs aren’t here! since when could the heroes transport you somewhere?!” Pack Leader snarled as he looked upwards and saw the dome was covered. “And the roof’s raised, I can’t call them or how can I get out of here?!”

**“There’s a place to open in along the wall near the dugout on the right-side, you’ll know it because it’s towards the back near the way to the locker rooms.”** Hawkmoth snarled and Pack Leader directed his mount towards the area of the stadium. They were passing the dugout when suddenly something flew out of it and hit his mount, freezing it and it tipped forward.

“As easy as I thought it would be!” Queen Bee said as she moved out of the dugout and looked at the Akuma. “Now all we have to do is get….”

“WOOOOOLLL!” Pack Leader roared as he jumped upwards off his mount and slashed down, sending energy claws at Queen Bee.

“SHELLTER!” Carapace called out as he got in front of Queen Bee and formed an energy dome around the two of them. As Pack Leader landed and looked at the two heroes he scoffed.

“What, not the two I’m looking for, what did Ladybug send in the bata’s while they stayed back and watched?” Pack Leader demanded only to be shocked as a yoyo suddenly wrapped around his whip and pulled it from his hands and Chat Noir snapped it. They stared for a few moments and didn’t see a butterfly come out and dodged as Pack Leader send another energy slash that made a gorge in the stands. “It doesn’t matter what you do, I will win here and now.” 

Ladybug looked at the Akuma and swallowed as she saw how big the dog mount was and knew they had only as much time as it remanded frozen. As she saw Queen Bee and Carapace towards the locker rooms she looked at Chat Noir and nodded at him and together they charged at Pack Leader who roared and ran at them. _I hope that they all get back soon!_ She thought as she remembered their planning session.

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_“Listen I just had a terrible thought, it’s the mount the Akuma is using.” Pegasus began looking around. “Are we sure that he has to stay on it? If we’re wrong then then they can fight separate that happens then something that size in this space……”_

_“That’s one of the reasons I’m staying back, right Ladydude?” Carapace asked and Ladybug nodded._

_“That’s also why you two have that next step in your part of the plan.” Ladybug said as she looked at Rena Rouge and Pegasus. “Once you’re done you and have the Akuma sent here, then…..”_

_“We got it; we’ll do it once we’re done.” Rena Rouge said as Pegasus nodded and grinned._

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As Chat Noir slammed down his staff Pack Leader met with his left arm and threw Chat Noir back as Ladybug spun upside down and kicked at the Akuma, who blocked with his right arm and she thought she saw something around his neck before he grabbed her leg with his left and threw her through the air. As she tried to get up a shadow came over her and she looked up at the truck sized dog and saw a glittering chain around its neck and went still as she realized where the Akuma might be. Before she could react the dog thrust its head at her but a shield came flying and hit the dog’s face and then Ladybug felt something wrap around her and pull her backwards. She saw Carapace grab his shield on the rebound as he ran to help Chat Noir and Ladybug hid a smile as Queen Bee helped her back to her feet.

“Pegasus was right, they can fight separately. Got a plan Ladybug?” Queen Bee asked as the dog shock it’s self-back to normal and started to growl at them. “Hopefully a good one?”

“I think I found the item. It’s on a chain around his neck, I might be wrong but I hope I’m right then it’s one of two. But for now we have to handle this one until they get back.” Ladybug said as she began to spin her yoyo and Queen Bee laughed.

“Then let’s hope they make it back before we can get the Akuma without them!” Queen Bee said as they jumped apart and Queen Bee threw her top at the dog, hitting its head. “Because I hate being cruel to animals!”

Meanwhile Carapace had slammed his shield into Pack Leader as Chat Noir came around from behind and the Akuma moved to the side and his staff hit Carapace’s shield and Pack Leader tried to come around from behind when Rena Rouge appeared from nowhere and hit him with her staff flute. Meanwhile a horseshoe hit the truck dog’s head as Pegasus appeared.

“Now’s a great time for a Lucky Charm!” Chat Noir cried out and Ladybug nodded and jumped back as Rena Rouge and Queen Bee fought off the dog.

“Lucky Charm!” She cried out and threw her yoyo upwards and a bolo fell into her hands. She looked around as her vision turn grey and then she saw the bolo flash, then Pegasus, the giant dog and then Queen Bee, Chat Noir and finally Rena Rouge. “That’s it! Queen Bee, Pegasus!”

“Ladybug?” Queen Bee called out as she jumped backwards and landed next to her. 

“What’s the play coach?” Pegasus asked as he jumped backwards as the dog started to growl. Ladybug handed over the bolo to Queen Bee and looked at her.

“Queen Bee I need you to tell Rena Rouge I need her here, then help Carapace and Chat Noir handle Pack Leader and give Chat this, tell him he’ll know when to throw it at the dog! And once you have a free shot freeze him and take off the dog tag around his neck and don’t destroy it until we get the one from the dog, Pegasus you and me, we’ll handle this one until Pegasus gets here!” Ladybug said as the dog growled and charged at them.

“Got it!” Queen Bee called out as she ran towards the Pack Leader as Ladybug and Pegasus dodged the giant dog as it ran past them.

“Pegasus, is do you have a comn line with him?” Ladybug asked softly as she landed next to Pegasus who nodded.

“Yeah, he wants to know what you need!” Pegasus asked and Ladybug looked up at the covered roof.

“We need darkness to stun the dog, once Rena Rouge gets here and we trip it up bring them down the lights.” Ladybug said as she looked at the dog as

“Got it, he’s ready, I’m guessing not until Rena gets here right?”

“We need her weapon to get the other object, so wait. And when to do it is on you!” She called back as she charged at the dog and dodged and hit one of its ears with her yoyo. He watched as she fought and saw the tag and realized why they needed Rena Rouge for this.

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As Chat Noir jumped back from a strike and then before the Akuma could punch at them again a spinning top pulled him to the side.

“Rena, Ladybug sent me so we could exchange dance partners! Chat I’ve got something from her for you!” Queen Bee called out as she threw a polka dotted bolo that he caught as Rena Rouge ran by them towards the dog spun her staff as she ran. “She said you’ll know when to use it on the dog!”

When Chat Noir spun his weapon as Pack Leader howled and charged at them only for Carapace to block it with his shield as Queen Bee jumped behind him and tied up his right arm with her top. “Nice move queenie, been practicing?”

“A few times a week really, it’s a really good way to release stress!” She called back and Chat Noir went still for a second before he lunged backwards and waited for his opening.

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Rena Rouge had joined them as Ladybug’s Miracouls beeped and as she spun her staff at one of the dog’s front legs it caused it to stumble and crash to the ground. 

“Now!” Pegasus called out and within seconds the lights in the stadium died down and they were plunged into darkness. Chat Noir took the time to throw the bolo as Rena Rouge and Ladybug jumped away from the dog. As soon as the bolo hit the dog’s legs the bolo grew and caused it to fall back to the ground, its legs immobilized. 

“NO!” Pack Leader called out and then was blinded as the lights came on, stumbling as he brought his hands to cover his eyes, not noticing that Queen Bee had pulled her top back as she smirked.

“VENOM!” Queen Bee called out as she threw her weapon and froze Pack Leader. “The tag around his neck, she thinks that’s it!”

Carpace grabbed the dog tag and pulled it free from Pack Leader’s neck and threw it towards Chat Noir. “Over to you Cat-Dude!”

“Wait until the others get the one around the dog!” Queen Bee called out as the tag flew through the air.

Meanwhile as the dog tried to struggle Rena Rouge had partial chocked it with Ladybug as they moved the collar up until Pegasus’s horseshoe cut it as he threw it throw it through the collar. As the dog gasped for breath Rena used her staff to move the large collar and fling it towards Chat Noir who threw the small tag so it landed on the larger one once it landed.

“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir called out and brought his hand down on, destroyed both of the dog tags as Ladybug ran towards them with Rena Rouge and Pegasus behind her.

As the black butterfly flew out of the destroyed dog tag, the truck sized dog deteriorated and the bolo shrunk down in size as the heroes looked on in shock, so shocked that the butterfly almost flew away before Ladybug caught it with her yoyo.

“No more evildoing for you little Akuma!” She said as she released a white butterfly. “I’m confused, was that dog-thing a product of the Akuma or something else?”

“That ever happen before with these things?” Queen Bee asked and Rena Rouge answered her.

“I…..follow the Ladyblog, nothing like that was ever on it.” Rena Rouge said as Carapace looked at her.

“Never but……Ladybug you’re on three and I’m on Four! Let’s finish this!” Chat Noir said as they heard another beep.

“Right, together?” Ladybug asked as she picked up the bolo and the others grinned and put their hands under it.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” The heroes cried as they threw the Lucky Charm into the air. As the red ladybugs swarmed and flew repairing the damage that the attack had caused the heroes smiled at each other and turned to the victim. The person was wearing a black uniform with an open jacket over a white shirt, and around his neck was a dog tag on a chain and he had red hair that was in a mane that went to his shoulders.

“Carapace, Rena Rouge, Pegasus, handle the victim. Me and Chat Noir will find a place to recharge, Queen Bee you can do it as well if you want or we’ll be back to pick it up.” Ladybug said as they ran out of the stadium.

Queen Bee smirked and walked towards the nearest dugout and Rena Rouge shook her head and sighed. “Guess she’s going to recharge, I guess she wants to spend more time with the Bee Kwami.”

“I don’t know, I like talking with him when I can.” Carapace said and Pegasus looked at them.

“Mine seems to be a bit, head strong and pompous really, but he seems okay.” Pegasus said as he reached the victim and held a hand to him. “Let me help you, are you okay?

“Yeah I am…..wait you two, I know you! Your two of the heroes……o god, I became an Akuma didn’t I?” He asked horrified as Queen Bee came out of the dugout as Ladybug and Chat Noir landed nearby.

“Yes, what happened?” Ladybug asked with a concerned tone. The man shock his head and scowled.

“I was bring this dog to my truck when this teen started to make noise about how other cities she’s been in had better animal control.” The man said as he looked down. “I usually let such thing pass over me, but that sausage haired little witch was just so loud!”

Every hero went still, Queen Bee growling as Pegasus started to think about recent events and Rena Rouge shared a look with Carapace as Chat Noir looked at Ladybug.

“People sometime just talk about things to make themselves seem more important or to feel good. Don’t what others say or believe bother you.” Ladybug said with a smile. “A very important person told me that, I’m still trying to live that.”

“Thanks.” The man said as he felt his neck and started to look around before sighing as he saw the a dog tag on the ground. “This belonged to the first dog I ever raised with my family, it’s become a good luck charm for me you know?”

“Good luck and good day sir.” Chat Noir said as the heroes left the stadium and he followed after them.

Outside the heroes jumped up to a nearby building and Chat Noir led the stepped ahead. “I’ll take Pegasus and Queen Bee back and retrieve their Miraculous, I’ll meet you at the Tower my lady.”

“Then I’ll take Carapace and Rena Rouge then, see you there Kitty.” Ladybug said as Rena Rouge and Queen Bee both giggled until Rena Rouge looked at Queen Bee in shock.

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Hawkmoth looked up at the window with a scowl. “You’re pack might have beaten mine this time but I will win Ladybug! I don’t know what I will do but I will be the Alpha at the end! Dark Wings Fall.”

As Gabriel straightened himself he looked at Nooroo and scowled at the Kwami. “How was that possible, how did that Akuma have a secondary power, what was that surge that caused it?

“My powers aren’t supposed to be used this way, I’ve told you time and time again! I don’t know how you can turn people into Akuma and not into Champions, there’s a major difference!” Nooroo spat as he hovered there with a scowl on his face.

“So then this might be an unknown side effect of using your powers this way then. But what could have caused it this time, what was the trigger?” Gabriel mussed as he walked around the room, Nooroo just hovering as he watched his master move. 

“As I’ve said before; how you have used my abilities is not how my chosen have used them, I don’t know. And all I’ve know is what I’ve learned over the years, I have no facts about how this could be possible.” Nooroo said with emotion, a rare event that caused Gabriel to step back and look at the Kwami in shock. “It could have been anything, from your own emotions about your son to something else, anything. I don’t know!”

“So we might be able to replicate it, good. Of course I can employ other means to find out what was different.” Gabriel said as he walked back towards his office, Nooroo following behind him with a fearful look on his face.

As Nooroo followed Gabriel he kept his face scared while inside he was happy, he hadn’t had to tell Gabriel that he had seen something like that before, he didn’t know the why but he had been able to keep what he thought was the how from him, and he would take whatever win he could.

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As Chat Noir, Pegasus and Queen Bee landed on the rooftop outside Chloe’s room he grinned at her as she dropped her transformation and Pollen appeared, Pegasus looking on as the kwami hugged Chloe’s check before she removed the Miraculous from her hair.

“Thanks, that was……bearable.” Chloe said and Chat Noir nodded and accepted the Miraculous as she handed it over. “Nice job horse boy, but I really hope we don’t have to have a team up like that again.”

“Wouldn’t want to steal the spot light from you Queenie.” Pegasus said with a smirk only for Chloe to hit his arm. “Owwe!”

“I meant that the Akuma needed the both of us horsey!” Chloe said and Pegauss nodded.

“Of course, the power this one had was unexpected, and I hope the next Akuma isn’t as bad.” Pegasus said as he held out his hand that she shook. “See you around Miss Bourgeois.”

As the two heroes jumped away from the hotel Chloe stood there for a few seconds more as she the heroes moved through a portal Pegasus made before turning away and walking back into her room and decided to check if school was still on for the day or not.

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As they fell onto Max’s roof he took off the Miraculous and put his glasses back on before he looked at Chat Noir. “I have to agree with Chloe, that wasn’t too bad. If you or Ladybug need mine or Markov’s help, please just call.”

“Thanks, you two really helped us out.” Chat Noir said as he took back the Miraculous and smiled at him.

“You’re welcome, but that girl he said caused his Akumatization…….. there’s this girl in my class named Lila, she seems to be a liar.” Max said with a sigh and shook his head. “And then there’s what happened to Marinette yesterday, I really should look into it more.”

“So you haven’t yet?” Chat Noir asked and he tried to keep his surprise out of his voice.

“I trusted that she would get a hearing, but with everything some friends have found I doubt our principal would let that happen. And if I hack in then the evidence could be……… tainted.” Max said and sighed. “I planned to look into what was needed and what could be found legally first before promising to help Marinette anyway I could. I owe her.”

“Why? Why do you owe her?” Chat Noir asked and Max looked away. “Max?”

“One day I went to school after staying up for over forty-eight hours…… there was thing with a napkin…… I don’t want to talk about it okay?” Max said as he turned away, seeing Chat Noir try and fail to hide a grin he kept his face expressionless and a smirk off his face.

“Well thank you again, stay safe and don’t attract Hawkmoth!” Chat Noir said before he ran towards the edge of the roof and leapt across to the next roof.

As Chat Noir jumped away Max frowned and walked back towards the door to the floor below, something was bothering Chat Noir and Max was worried what could be bothering his _classmate_. _Could those two have finally figured out who each other is…… is that why Adrien wasn’t in class today……then Lila’s photo-shoot……. There’s too much going on that doesn’t make sense, but I can feel a connection between these events. Should I tell them I know?_ Max thought as he walked towards his room.

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Blocks away Ladybug, Carapace and Rena Rouge dropped into an alley within moments Nino and Alya were handing their Miraculous back to Ladybug who smiled at them.

“Thanks for the help you two, I appreciate it.” Ladybug said as she accepted the two boxes and moved to go when Alya grabbed her arm.

“Wait Ladybug, that girl he mentioned, there’s this girl named Lila in my class……. And I made a mistake posting an interview about her on my blog.” Alya said and looked down as Nino put a hand on her shoulder.

“My ‘Best Friend?’ Yeah, I’ve seen the post. I never made any noise to you about it because I didn’t want Hawkmoth to know, he might have gone after you or your family.” Ladybug said and Alya paled in fear. “I have a few ideas about why he hasn’t……… I’ll talk to you tonight around nine okay, I’ll bring Chat with me, it’s his idea really.”

“Thanks Ladybug, thanks.” Alya crocked out and Ladybug jumped away and Alya put her back against the wall.

“You okay Alya?” Nino asked as Alya put her head against her legs.

“I never thought.” Alya said as Nino sat next to her. “I never thought my blog could put my family in danger. If Hawkmoth had attacked my sisters because of me!”

“Oh baby.” Nino whispered as he sat down in front of her and hugged her as she started to cry.

Ladybug landed on the Tower and looked around before a voice came from behind her.

“Want mine too Ladybug?” 

Ladybug spun around and saw Chat Noir looking over the city she felt her heart

“MI mean we discovered who each other is, isn’t that the rules?” Chat Noir asked morosely and Ladybug walked over and hugged him.

“If Master Fu wants that, then he’ll need to take mine too!” Ladybug said and Chat Noir went still as she contirued. “You and me against the world Kitty, and that’s a promise!”

“Thank you Ladybug.” Chat Noir said as he held her arms before he stood turned and handed over two boxes. “But you should get those back to him.”

Ladybug nodded and pulled him along with her. “Come on, if you don’t want to talk to him then you’ll at least wait nearby for me okay Kitty.”

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Ladybug landed in the alley and quickly dropped her transformation and moved towards the door Fu had met her at earlier, fighting the urge to look up and try to find Chat Noir. As she walked the turmoil she was feeling was shown on her face no matter how much she tried to hide it. as she knocked on the door it opened faster than she would have liked to Master Fu’s smiling face

“Well done Marinette, as good a job as always.” Fu said as he accepted back the four small boxes through the doorway as he smiled at her. “But when you came here before I saw that something was wrong, so if there’s any way I can help you please let me.”

“It’s nothing Master Fu, I…..” Marinette said and Fu only looked at her softly.

“Marinette please, I can tell that you are bothered by something, I saw that when you came to me before my dear, so please my dear tell me, trust me.” Fu said and Marinette looked at him before sighing.

“I….Adrien and I learned each other’s secrets.” Marinette said and she closed her eyes. She opened then and saw Fu looking at her with a twinkle in his eyes that caused Marinette to look at him hard. “I don’t care what you want to do, but if you take his then you take mine!”

“Oh, how did that happen? And don’t worry, I expect you two to have told each other months ago really.” Fu said before they heard the sounds of people calling out. He frowned as he look down the alley. She turned and followed his eyes and saw people coming out of the buildings, some of them going towards the dogs, Master Fu turned back and looked at Marinette and shooed her off “Call me later and we can talk about it, and don’t worry I’m not going to take away either of your Miraculous, so go.”

Marinette nodded and slipped away down a side alley and quickly transformed back to Ladybug and jumped to the rooftops. Within moments she was running towards where she and Chat Noir had promised to meet up, a smile on her face.

“So how bad is it?” Chat’s voice caused Ladybug to turn to him and she felt a stab of pitty as she saw the way he looked, miserable as if something was going to be lost. “When does he want………him back?”

“He said he’s not kitty, we’re safe from that at least. And he said that he had expected us to have told each other months ago!” Ladybug said and Chat Noir sighed and couched down against a chimney.

“Thank you.” Chat Noir whispered softly as he leaned back. With everything that’s happening, to lose him and your partnership my lady, I just couldn’t.” Chat Noir said and Ladybug winced and looked at him with symphony.

She looked at her partner and sighed. _With everything that’s happening to take Plagg away from Adrien right now, that would be too cruel._ She thought as she looked at him. “Kitty, let’s get back ………. _there_ wait for me where you left from, I’ll be along in a few minutes. It’s best we do it there.”

Chat Noir looked at him and nodded, something about the way she was talking made him decided not to press the issue. “But we can talk about _her_ there latter, right?”

“Of course Kitty.” Ladybug said and Chat Noir grinned and they both bound away on a complicated route to take them separately to the same place.

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Chat Noir landed in his ‘room’ and dropped his transformation and walked towards the door and unlocked it before going to the bed and laying down on it, Plagg flew up and hovered above him.

“Even if the old turtle tried kid, I wouldn’t go. You know that right?” Plagg asked and Adrien smiled.

“Yeah Plagg, I just need to decompress, I mean Marinette is Ladybug. My Lady is my princess, and she’s dating Luka.” Adrien said morosely and Plagg sighed as he shook his head.

“Oh kid.” Plagg said with an air of someone who had tried and failed to get him to understand something that was transparent to everyone else.

“Plagg what is it?” Adrien asked but before he could receive an answer someone knocked on his door. “It’s open!”

Marinette came into the room and Adrien got up and gestured to the bed and Marinette nodded and put her phone on it as Tikki floated next to her as Adrien sat down next to her. A few moments later they heard someone pick up the other end.

“Hello Adrien, Marinette, Tikki, Plagg. So Marinette said that you two discovered each other’s secret.” Fu said over Marinette’s phone.

“Yeah master, they both ran into each other as they were leaving and my kid realized how that was possible.” Plagg said with a snicker.as Tikki floated to him and pouted at him as she hit Plagg’s head, causing him to grin at her. “You gotta admit it’s one for the ages Sugarcube.”

“You said it doesn’t matter that we know Master Fu? Has something changed?” Adrien asked and the sound of laughter came over the phone.

“To be fair, the don’t know who each other are thing is to see if you have the spirit of true heroes, after all this time I believe that the danger has passed. You are both committed to this fight.” Fu’s voice lifted a weight off Adrien’s shoulders. “But today we had to field more heroes then every before, and Kaalki wants to go back to young Mr. Kante, and the others were saying that if he gets to do that then they want to go too. And the others who haven’t been paired with a hero want to get out as well.”

“That might be needed. If Hawkmoth ever creates another Akuma like that one, then we’ll need more help than before. And with him hunting you Master Fu…….” Marinette trailed off and Adrien looked at Plagg who nodded at him.

“I wonder if I should go and try and test a few of your choices, see if they have the spark.” Master Fu said and Adrien gathered his courage.

“Master Fu, while that’s important I have a question that I think, no that I know that we need an answer to.” Adrien said as he crossed his arms and looked at Marinette’s phone.

“And that is?” Fu asked with a note of teasing in his voice.

“Can a person use a damaged Miraculous?” Adrien asked Marinette looked at him with an inquisitive look that slowly changed to shock as she realized something. _Maybe she’s making the same connection I did, good. If we can figure out who she is then we might end this._ Adrien thought as he turned his head back towards Marinette’s phone.

“I I don’t know. I’ve told you after Feast that I was just a child when I made the mistake that destroyed the Order. And the copies of the Grimoire that I’ve been translating haven’t said anything about that. But I think yes, but the results would be that person succumbing to the same thing that happens when a Miraculous is damaged, it would only longer.” Fu’s voice came over confused, and he could feel Marinette looking at him with a growing sense of alarm.

“And a wish can do anything right, like ‘heal’ a person who used a Miraculous past the point of it being damaged?” Adrien asked and Marinette and Tikki looked thunderstruck as Plagg grinned.

“One of my best kittens ever!” Plagg said proudly.

Fu was silent and they heard a hard swallow over the phone and they waited for him to gather his thoughts. “That might make sense, I can see why when this began that Mayura wasn’t involved and only comes out once in a while. This is so bad.”

“Yeah, we have a reason for them to have found out about the wish, but we can’t know what they want it for.” Marinette said as she shook her head. “If a person is trying to find something and finds a way to ultimate power, they might choose to take it instead of what their after.”

“It’s worse than that Marinette.” Adrien said as he looked sick. “The way Plagg explained it the wish is about harmony, to heal someone, someone else is struck down in their place.”

Marinette gasped as she brought a hand to her mouth and looked at Tikki who nodded, causing her to pale in horror.

“So then Hawkmoth either doesn’t know about or doesn’t care.” Marinette said and Adrien nodded. “But how could Hawkmoth have found out about the wish but didn’t find out about the cost?”

“Never underestimate what people are capable of if they think they’ve found the answer to their problems.” Fu’s voice carried a trace of bitterness and regret that caused Adrien and Marinette to wince and

“He’s right kids, the number of times I’ve seen somebody learn something they wanted to know and ignore the rest…..the times that’s caused pain……. I can’t even count them all.” Plagg said as Tikki hugged him.

“And this Akuma was a lot more complicated than the others have been, even the ones that make minions.” Marinette said with a worried tone. “And if he

“Well at least becoming homeschooled might make this easier now.” Adrien said na

“Homeschooled, why are you, I thought you liked going to school?” Fu asked And Adrien looked at Marinette and she nodded

“Yesterday I was expelled for ‘cheating’ on a mock test by ‘stealing an answer sheet’ that Lila took after the test, and for pushing Lila down the stairs when she walked down and started to scream that I pushed her, and stealing her necklace that she put in my locker.” Marinette said and Adrien thought he heard a series of gasps from the Fu’s side of the phone.

“And your teachers didn’t say anything about this?!” Fu demanded in shock. “They at least let you defend yourself against the accusations right, please?”

“No. And add to that the facts that no lockers at school have locks, they never checked the security cameras and that an unknown person said Marinette took the answer sheet and well.” Adrien said drily with a scowl as Marinette looked at him before looking down with a blush on her face. “It took all I had not to punch that stupid owl and that idiot teacher!”

“And we only know this because a hacker sent me the video files that showed everything Lila did.” Marinette said and Adrien frowned.

“I can’t I just.” Fu said as they heard him slap his head. “I have seen and heard some stupid or idiotic things over the years but that takes the cake!”

“Who was the hacker, why were they even looking at the files in the first place?” Adrien asked suddenly. “Why did whoever it was known that something had happened?”

“If someone in the other classes heard about it and told anyone, that person could have told the hacker. Realistically they could have heard about it from anyone, we just can’t know. It could have been anyone” Marinette said and then laughed. “Well after all she did to do this; I guess we can count Lila out of the running.”

“And then there’s the fact that my father _hired_ Lila to do that, or so she says.” Adrien said and Fu went silent and he heard Marinette gasp. “What is it?”

“Master Fu, there was another mass Akuma attack yesterday; well it would have been one. Something happened and it fizzled out, if Hawkmoth turns Mayura into an Akuma to boost his powers…..” Marinette said and Adrien looked on, something in him telling him this was important.

“Then that means that it fizzled out because Mayura was hit by the damage to the Miraculous is starting to affect her…. But how could he have planned to need the ‘boost’ for that, to have known when the emotions of so many people were right for him to use ahead of time?” Fu asked and Adrien looked at Marinette as she gasped and paled as she looked at Tikki. “Marinette?”

“Lila’s actions. The way that everything happened yesterday, how one after the other that led to everyone going to the locker room and finding her necklace.” Marinette said softly as Adrien started to understand as the Kwami started to glare.

“I mean I guess I can see it, she did try and isolate me from you when Kagami became an Akuma after she sent out that picture when she forced a kiss on me.” Adrien said and then looked at Marinette as she looked down before raising her head with a hard look in her eyes.

“And there’s the fact that you said that Lila said your father told her to do it.” Marinette said and Adrien looked at her in confusion.

“What about my dad?” Adrien said as he felt himself grow worried, something

“Young Adrien, the reason we suspected Gabriel of being Hawkmoth was because he had been in possession of a book, a grimoire that this Lila stole from you and Marinette found and returned.” Fu said and Adrien went still and looked at Marinette.

“The book my father said he found with my mom?” Adrien said and paled. “That’s why you thought he might be Hawkmoth!?”

“And Lila might have been working for Hawkmoth.” Tikki said and everyone looked at her in shock.

“What are you talking about Tikki?” Marinette asked as she looked at her friend who looked down at her.

“Think back to the day Lila threated you Marinette, how was she when she left?” Tikki asked and Marinette gasped.

“Wait, what is it?” Master Fu asked and Marinette bit her lip.

“Adrien knows, but when Lila came back she caused an Akuma to try and get me.” Marinette asked and Adrien nodded. “Well that was only a few minutes before Lila was Akumatized, and she walked off smugly, not scared or angry.”

“Then how could she have become an Akuma, it wouldn’t have been drawn to her, so the only way!!” Adrien said with a gasp as Plagg’s mouth dropped open.

“Are you saying that she grabbed it on purpose?!” Plagg stammered and Tikki sighed.

“We don’t have any proof about it, but if she did then that means a few things.” Tikki said and Marinette nodded.

“If she did that, that means that Hawkmoth saw or felt it happen. That might have brought her to his attention and if it did then it might have shown him she could be an ally.” Marinette said with a scowl.

“Whatever reason that he is after the wish, however he found out about it, that doesn’t matter.” Fu said voice said as the four people looked at the phone. “For now I’ll get started to look up what I can about how to repair the Miraculous, maybe that will tell me how to help Mayura, and our mystery person if they exist.”

“I don’t mean to sound callous but should you master?” Adrien asked and Marinette nodded. “We don’t know that they want the wish to help someone.”

“I understand completely my boy, but if there are people hurt because of actions that I caused, my honor can’t let it stand.” Master Fu said and Adrien nodded. “And we can see if that’s the case after we capture them. And goodbye.”

“Goodbye Master Fu.” Marinette said as she turned her phone off. “So let’s talk.”

“Yeah.” Adrien said as he suddenly wanted Hawkmoth to attack again, or anything to keep this from happening now.

“Kids, he’s back to talk to you both!” Tom’s voice from downstairs caused Marinette and Adrien to look at each other and nod as their Kwami looked at each other and Tikki led Plagg towards the vents so they could spy on the meeting and be near their Chosen.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All in all they recover from the surprises, and Nora talks to her sister

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s Chapter 6 guys, on my time for once. Expect chapter 7 sometimes around the 14th everyone, I have a few other projects that are taking up my time so sorry. And next chapter expect a biggggg surprise.

Louise knocked at the back entrance to the Dunpain-Chang bakery holding a briefcase in one hand and shook his head. _If nothing happened like I thought I guess first thing first I’ll do is send a form to the school board for all the camera footage, that way I’ll have it to look over the data and we’ll be able to use that to sue this bitch._ He thought before the door opened and Tom looked out and smiled when he saw him. “Hi Tom, so did the school send over anything to you all?”

“I wish that they had, at least then this nightmare might have been over with or we would have something to fight against.” Tom said and Louise just sighed and shook his head. 

“Well at least the Akuma attack gave me plenty of time to get the paperwork done to send to the school board, and I was able to handle Adrien’s problem.” Louise said as Tom led him into the house, a commotion from the kitchen caused him to sigh and shake his head. “Giving that it’s almost time for the dinner rush, I guess I’ll be talking to your daughter alone?”

“Yeah, I’ll have the intercom on so I’ll be able to hear everything.” Tom said as he looked at Louise and glared at him. “Don’t make me or my wife come up there.”

“Of course sir, I will be perfectly professional, I always do.” Louise said and Tom nodded and sighed

“Kids, he’s back to talk to you both!” Tom called up and then pointed at his eyes then at Louise before he headed towards the bakery’s kitchen.

Louise shook his head and then chuckled and walked upwards and smiled when he saw Adrien and Marinette walk towards the table and he grinned at them.

“Hey kids, you all okay, stayed away from those people today?” Louise asked as they walked towards the table. “The Akuma stayed away from this area but did some of the dogs come and bother you all, it didn’t look like they did but you never know with her Cure.”

“We stayed safe and away from the windows, we only stopped hiding when the alert died down.” Marinette said and Louise looked at them for a few seconds before nodding.

“Yeah, we were safe Louise. But you’re here about something, so how are our _issues_?” Adrien asked as the three of them sat down at the table and Louise put his briefcase down and sighed. “That bad?

“Let me start with you Miss Marinette. I had a friend of mine check over the video you got yesterday and while it wasn’t changed or modified, legally it is tainted because it was anomalous but it gives us wriggle room to hunt down the original. I will be going to that school tomorrow for that reason with a few members of the police, I’ll have a warrant to get a copy of the school’s security cameras and another copy will be given to the school board so there’s that.” Louise said and then looked at Adrien. “But then there’s your problem kid, first and foremost we need to get you to a doctor in the next few days for a full physical, it’s part of the process okay kid so don’t ask okay? And the witness list will be drawn up after that.”

Adrien nodded and looked down and sighed and closed his eyes. _I can get why, to make sure it’s not physical abuse. I mean this has to part of the process. I have to do this, I said I would and this is important, I can’t go back to how it was before, nothing about this is healthy for any of us._ Adrien thought as he felt Marinette reach over and squeeze his hand. “This is why it’s so hard, isn’t it?”

“Yeah kid, it is.” Louse said and then he smiled at him. “I mean I always thought that you were a bit skinny kid, so a general physical is something that would be good for the case, I’ll also need you to sign a few documents that need to be signed with the Child’s Protection agent present as a witness to let me look into your finances, again part of the process. And all of this stuff that was set up to keep you, the child in question safe.”

“The Justice department really has a lot of stuff set up to handle this doesn’t it?” Marinette asked and Louise laughed darkly.

“Yeah, but unfortunately it was more of a ‘don’t do this again’ thing that grew overtime.” Louise said with a sigh and shook his head. “So to finalize everything, tomorrow I will be heading to the college to serve the warrant, then I will be heading over to the board of education to serve the papers that will contest the expulsion and or suing the college for what they did.”

“Yeah, then there’s the way that I can get that physical. He’s going to be watching most of the hospitals and clinics in the city.” Adrien said and Louis smirked.

“All you need to do kid is make it away from here and get to around the 7th on the boarder of the 6th. I’ll pick you up there and then I’ll get you to this clinic the police and most of the lawyers use when they need a doctor without people knowing. Perfectly legal but it was set up that way for undercover ops for the police, a totally covered garage and the normal way in only covered to.” Louise said with a smirk. “One of the best in the city, most people who know about it think the directors a little too concerned with privacy but he did get his leg broken when fans mob a hospital when he was a student so there’s that.”

“Wow.” Marinette said as she and Adrien blinked and looked at him. “So do you think you’ll be able to get everything that we need to successful argue about happened to me?”

“Perfectly. The trip tomorrow is basically just to find airtight copies of the original videos. And I’ll be heading over to the Italian embassy within the next few days and well.” Louise said with a shrug and looked at the two teens.

“Do you think that’s a good thing, it might give Lila time to cover her tracks or get out of the city. And if her mother is a diplomat.” Marinette said as Adrien nodded and Louise only smirked back.

“Don’t worry about that, I have to head over there anyway and follow up on a settlement with another client, and I can’t talk about why but I will be talking to a person who knows who works there. I’ll find out the truth and from there, and then we’ll see what’s true.” Louise said as he looked around at the two teens who smiled. “Relax, all I’ll be doing is finding out where she lives and making sure she knows to make it to the hearing about what happened, from there we’ll see what’s what.”

“There might be another way…….” Marinette said and looked down at the table for a few moments. “A frie……. _a classmate_ has access rights to the school’s network and website.”

“Why?” Louise asked and Adrien looked at her as she refused to meet their eyes.

“He reworked it a few months ago after it was hacked, nothing was destroyed but the files were renamed and well it was chaos for a few days as the students had to deal with what the hacker renamed our accounts as.” Marinette said as she blushed. “For a month before Max fixed it I had to log in as ‘Bakery-Model’ and Chloe was ‘Chief-Brat.’ Let’s just say that when she realized what her new login name was she screamed so loud the whole school heard.”

“So then Max could get the number and email address Lila gave the school!” Adrien said as Louise started to grin and rub his hands together.

“But would this Max be willing to do that?” Louis asked and Marinette nodded. 

“Some of our classmates figured out Lila is a bitch, and two of them came over today and apologized for not believe me. We had a talk and shared lunch together and we cleared the air.” Adrien said and Marinette nodded.

“So I’ll call text him later and message you if he’s willing to do that. Once that’s done I’ll text you or do you want me to send it tomorrow?” Marinette asked and Louise nodded at her. 

“That sounds great Marinette, just send me the information before Francois Dupont starts tomorrow, I’ll be raiding during the first class so hopefully I’ll get by the principle.” Louise said as he took some papers out of his briefcase and passed one pile to Adrien and one to Marinette. “The one with you Adrien is the summery of everything that you and I talked about, every bit of the case against your dad. And Miss Marinette, what you have is the paperwork that I’ll need you and your parents to sign, it’s how we’re contesting the ‘expulsion’. Oh, and I used a copy of the video that you were sent yesterday as the reason for my ‘fishing expedition’ tomorrow.”

“So that will let you track down the evidence?” Marinette asked and Louise got up and the teens did as well.

“Yeah, it’s technical but that’s right.” Louise said and smirked. “I wonder if the owl will find us before we leave? Well you have a nice night kids.”

As Louise walked away Adrien turned towards Marinette and rubbed the back of his head, waiting until they heard the door downstairs close before he looked at her. “You know we have to talk about what we _learned_ …..”

“Marinette! We’re be up for super in a few moment, the dinner crew is here! So could you get out the plates and put dinner in the oven?” Sabine’s voice caused Adrien to stop and shrug and Marinette to sigh internally.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

“Thanks Max, just get me the data as soon as you can tonight.” Marinette said into her phone as she climbed up to her bed.

“I’ll send it to you by midnight Marinette, and I hope that you’re back in class soon.” Max said as he hung up and Marinette chuckled as she got to her bed.

“Max is a good friend Marinette, I knew he would help you!” Tikki said as she floated up after her.

“That was never in doubt Tikki.” Marinette sighed as she looked around her room, when they had both gotten back to her house her parents had thankfully stayed downstairs the whole time and hadn’t gone to check on them and that was one thing that they had lucked out on. Dinner had been tense between the two of them but they had been able to get through it without her parents getting a clue that there was something that was bothering the two of them.

“Are you okay Marinette?” Tikki asked as she floated there and Marinette only hid her face as her kwami looked at her in concern.

“He must be so disappointed that it’s me Tikki, he just has to be.” Marinette said and hugged her knees as she rested her head on her bed. 

“You don’t know that Marinette, you don’t.” Tikki said as she looked at Marinette. While she tried to keep her temper down as she looked at her chosen. _He better not! After all the times that Plagg’s said that he’s mooned over her, just finding out who she really was she had better not have stopped loving her because she’s ‘just a friend’! I mean really!_ Tikki thought as she floated to Marinette and touched her check. “You two just need to talk to each other privately about a lot of things.”

“But where can we talk my parents overhearing us?” Marinette asked and Tikki sighed.

“Here for one, or up there.” Tikki said as she pointed towards the door to the roof and Marinette’s balconies

“All it would take is someone to see him and then who knows what Gabriel or Lila would do? The only place is my room and that’s a whole other kettle of fish.” Marinette said with a blush and Tikki sighed and thought darkly about teenagers and their hormones.

“You have to talk to him Marinette, want me to go get him; I could follow the vents and hide from your parents that way.” Tikki said and Marinette looked like she was going to say something when they both heard something.

A buzzing caused her to snap her head up and look towards a statue light her parents had giving her for her last birthday before Tikki had come into her life, her friend had gone into it and discovered a microphone and a few searches at school had turned up the item on a site that sold parential spyware, a way for parents to spy on their kids without them being aware of it. the model in question had a recording option, thankfully Max had come over once or twice to share a new game and he had helped her by showing her how to modify it to make the engine run a bit louder so she knew when it was active.

A knock on her door caused Marinette to look towards it and swallow. “Come in.”

Adrien looked around as he came up into her room and Plagg flew around and Tikki flew over to him and gestured pointed towards the statue that Marinette had just been thinking off and before Adrien could say anything Marinette held up a hand and type out a quick text on it before throwing it to him, he caught it and looked down at it and paled a little as he read, ‘the statue is bugged by my parents, let Plagg and Tikki handle it.’

“Hey Adrien, you doing okay stuck in here?” Marinette asked as she grinned at him and kept her eyes on the statue as Plagg and Tikki flew towards it.

“Okay, I have a lot of practice with this so it’s not too bad; at least I have someone to talk to who doesn’t answer to him.” Adrien said and Marinette looked at him with a look of concern in her eyes that caused him to shiver a little.

“What about the models you’ve worked with, couldn’t you talk to them online at least?” Marinette asked and Adrien laughed and shook his head. He kept his eyes on the two kwami as she slipped into the statue and sighed before he spoke up. 

“You’d think that but their contracts have a clause in them that kept us from sharing our emails on sets, the parties and work with our agencies is supposed to be where that kind of stuff is exchanged but well dad never let me go.” Adrien said with a shrug.

“Why wouldn’t he?” Marinette asked in complete shock

“Something about drug abuse that one model said started at a party. Which is insane and impossible because all the company’s models have to have blood tests every few months and most of them bring in paperwork to show what prescriptions their doctors are having them take and why, and the company is responsible for the food. But of course he ignores that but well who would tell him that?” Adrien said dryly and Marinette looked at him in concern.

“Before you made it to school, you had a very small circle of people you knew that didn’t work for your father, didn’t you?” Marinette asked, complete shocked and rethinking a lot about how she felt about his father.

“I think maybe Chloe, but there’s some kinda connection between her family and my mom’s.” Adrien said with a shrug. “He was better when mom was around, at least I think he was.”

Marinette looked so concerned for him he almost took her into his arms but then he saw the kwami float out of the statue as the buzz died down.

“Not bad Plagg, you drained the battery so fast!” Tikki said and Plagg laughed and nudged her.

“What about you, going right for the wires that led to the motor and tearing them first, then going for the wires connecting to the speakers! This way they’ll think it broke by age and without the motor then it will die from the heat!” Plagg said as Tikki bowed.

“So we don’t have to worry about my parents hearing us then.” Marinette said and Adrien nodded.

“Yeah, we have to talk but let me get this off my chest first. It’s about the Lila thing, her second time as an Akuma, that we know about for sure anyway.” Adrien said sheepishly as he watched her climb down from her bed as Tikki and as Plagg sighed and landed on his shoulder. 

“Lila, what about her, wait is this about not confronting her?” Marinette asked only for what Adrien to look down with an ashamed expression on his face.

“You know how I said I was talking with her before she became Chameleon, remember?” Adrien said. “I was talking about how people would like her if she didn’t lie, I tried to make her see that and she walked off in a huff. Then she became an Akuma and tried to ruin my social life.”

“Yeah, I can get it better now. With how tough her forms are, not wanting to set her off is pretty smart I guess. And I admit I should have told you about how she threatened me but……” Marinette interpreted him before he exploded.

“It’s more than that!” Adrien said and bowed to Marinette suddenly and Plagg fell off his shoulder and dropped a few inches before floating back upwards. “I was afraid that if you called her on her lies then she would become an Akuma that would want to **kill** you!”

“Oh.” Marinette said quietly and paled as she realized that was a possibility given what Akumas had acted like and the many times that the Akumas had attacked people and with how dangerous Lila’s forms were….. “Oh.”

“Yeah oh, and with how bad she was, I was worried that she might be able to do that to you, well ‘civilian’ you.” Adrien said as he looked away only for Marinette to reach over and cup his check causing him to blush.

“Oh kitty.” Marinette breathed and looked at him with a caring look in her eyes.

“I couldn’t tell ‘civilian’ you how dangerous her Akuma’s were, so I gave that stuff about the high road because I didn’t want you around her enough to set her off and have Lila try and kill you.” Adrien said as he looked at her as he grabbed her hand and stared into her eyes as they seemed to draw him in as he lost himself in them. Unconsciously the two of them were slowly moving their heads closer to each other and then Adrien realized what he was doing and shot backwards and took a step back.

“Adrien?” Marinette asked before she realized what they had almost done and her earlier thoughts came back but before she could start to spiral Adrien held up his hands.

“Sorry, and I’m sorry if flirting with you had made you uncomfortable, I’ll try and tone it down, it would probably give Hawkmoth a clue if I stop cold. I never wanted to get in the way of your relationship with him.” Adrien said and Marinette grew more confused as Tikki face palmed as Plagg started to snicker.

“Him?” Marinette asked as she looked at him, totally confused as Plagg started to snicker behind Adrien as Tikki got a strange look on her face.

“Luka, the person you have a crush on.” Adrien said as he looked away from her, not seeing her mouth drop open as Tikki slapped her face and Plagg starred to snicker harder. “I’m sorry, I guess all this time I hoped that maybe he wasn’t that good a person and you might give me a chance, but I’ve met him and i…….”

“Wait, wait!” Marinette interrupted him. “You think I’ve had a crush on Luka?”

“Well yeah, you don’t?” Adrien asked and Marinette nodded and he looked shocked.

“No, Luka’s a great guy but the both of us know that we’d be bad for each other. He was always helping me because of……..things that are private for his family really.” Marinette said and she looked down and Adrien frowned.

Adrien looked at her and tried to comprehend something, everything he knew about her told him he had feelings for someone, she had told him he had feelings for someone else but if it wasn’t Luka then who. “Then who do you have a crush on? Sorry if that a bit forward but……”

“You!” Marinette exclaimed as she shot to her feet. “I’ve had a crush on you since you gave me your umbrella that day we first met you stupid cat! And as I got to know you it became……love”

“Love?” Adrien said shakily and Marinette rolled on.

“Yes! Your kind, one of the best students in our grade, you try to help whenever you can get away from your father and you’re a great person! All this time when I’ve stumbled around you it’s because I’ve been trying to tell you that!” Marinette said and blushed when she realized what she had just exploded on him.

“Oh. So all this time; _I’ve_ been the other boy that in your heart, and I was the reason that you wouldn’t give me as Chat Noir a chance, so the girl I had a crush on had a crush on me. Well that’s something.” Adrien said dumbly he sat down in total shock as Marinette stared at him.

“Wait, you’ve had a crush on me as Ladybug, what about Kagami?!” Marinette said and Plagg looked at Tikki who nodded at him, a snicker escaping him.

“Wait Kagami, you thought I had feelings for Kagami?!” Adrien exclaimed as he looked at her. “No, Kagami and I don’t have feelings for each other, it was more of a thing to get away from our parents and how controlling they are, her idea really.”

“Really?” Marinette asked and Adrien nodded.

“She said something about dating a person in a similar situation to mine once and it didn’t work out, she said it was one of the reasons they moved but that was all that she said about it.” Adrien said and he looked at Marinette and took a deep breath. “But it did let me talk to her and she helped me work through my feelings, get them under control and try and deal with my crush.”

“On Ladybug, right?” Marinette said with trepidation as she looked at Adrien who nodded.

“I do love Ladybug you but I developed feelings for someone else over the last year.” Adrien said and Marinette started to feel worse.

“Who?” Marinette asked and Adrien looked at her.

“You bug.” Adrien said as he blushed. “On both sides of the mask I fell for you.”

“What.” Marinette asked faintly as she looked at him as Plagg started to grin and Tikki smiled at her.

“For a while now I’ve been having a hard time dealing with my feelings for well; both of you. As Ladybug you’re brave and smart, and as Marinette you’re creative, helpful to everyone and talented as heck, and the way you looked when you won that video game tournament with Max. I’ve been having a hard time separating what I felt about both of you. That’s why I went on that date with Kagami, I was trying to move on but it didn’t work well, we both saw that.” Adrien said and Marinette sat down as she looked away as Adrien in looked at Marinette before he started to laugh, startling Marinette and the Kwamis. 

“So the reason we both rejected/ ignored each other is because we fell in love with one side of each other.” Adrien said as he stopped laughing and Plagg fell to the floor and started to laugh.

Plagg finally stopped laughing and grinned at them. “Oh man o man, you two crack me up! That right there! You two are my new favorite chosen ever!”

“Plagg!” Tikki said as Marinette and Adrien blushed and looked away.

“Come on sugarcube, don’t tell that you don’t think this is funny!” Plagg said as he snickered and Tikki giggled and nodded.

“Their almost as funny as our first wielders; remember them?” Tikki asked and Plagg laughed as he spun around. “And I can’t wait until Alya and the others find out, you two have to make up a good story to get by her!”

“Alya, why would we have to make up a story for her?” Adrien asked and Marinette blushed and looked away. “Anything else I should know?”

“Alya’s been trying to help me confess with the girls for most of the school year, I can’t even count all the times and plans we made that failed.” Marinette said and Adrien looked down with a deeper blush.

“Oh, that’s something but I was talking to the Kwami. Anything you want to say Plagg?” Adrien asked and his kwami turned and grinned at the humans as Tikki just looked on exasperated.

“Sometimes when this happens it’s either my holder or sugarcube’s who finds out first, they try and make them fall in love with their ‘other-selves’; it’s kinda funny to tell the truth.” Plagg said and Adrien looked away as Marinette looked the other way.

“Oh, look at the time, shouldn’t we go to Alya’s soon?” Adrien asked and Marinette looked at the clock and nodded as Plagg shook his head and Tikki giggled as Marinette smiled at him. “So how about I turn in and then slip out through the window, I’ll meet you up top?”

“We still have about an hour, so let’s give go play a round with my parents for a bit before they go to sleep and then we’ll slip out from our rooms.” Marinette said as she looked towards the door down and smirked. “Because I know they’ll be here in a few moments because of how the power went out.”

Adrien looked towards the door as they heard someone climb up the ladder and a moment later Tom Dupain opened the door with a smile. “Hey kids, Sabine and I are starting a round of Ultimate Mecha Strike III, want in?”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Alya hugged herself as she waited on the rooftop of the building she lived in she shivered a little. She had been able to escape dinner without her parents giving her much trouble about her blogging during the attack and even Nora had been quiet about it, something that hadn’t happened a lot and she still looked around with a nervous feeling. _I don’t know what to do, I have to take down that damned interview but how? I could say I was attacked by a hacker, that might buy me a few days and then I can talk to the others about Lila, see how we can get her back. But what did Marinette mean about how she wasn’t going back to Dupont? What did she and her parents learn about the school to make them decide that?_ Alya thought as she stood there and tried to think about.

“Alya?”

“JESUS!” She exclaimed as she spun around and saw Ladybug and Chat Noir standing there looking at her. “When did you get here?”

Chat Noir and Ladybug looked at each other before Chat spoke up. “A few minutes ago, you wanted to talk to us about something?”

“Yeah, it’s about this girl at school Lila, I posted an interview about her, how she was Ladybug’s best friend but I’m think she’s not and I shouldn’t have done it at all.” Alya said and her smile dropped as she saw Ladybug nod and Chat Noir scowled.

“She the last thing from even a friend to Ladybug.” Chat Noir said and Ladybug nodded.

“And the reason that we never said anything about it because we didn’t want to call any attention to your site, we didn’t want Hawkmoth to think he could get to us through you.” Ladybug said and Alya flushed and looked down, ashamed beyond her ability to speak.

Alya could only look at them and pale as she thought about what her ‘Ladybug hunts’ could have brought down onto her family. _Gods, this has to be why Marinette always talked about them, how she tried to get me to slow down and not go so fast? And forget Hawkmoth, who else could have used what I put up on my blog the wrong way? How much danger have I put my little sisters in?_ Alya thought as she swayed a bit causing the Hereos to look at her in concern.

“Are you okay Alya?” Chat Noir asked and Alya nodded absently.

“Yeah, I’m just thinking about what people could have done with what I put up on my blog, I gotta try and fix it….. maybe I could talk to Max….” Alya said as she started to plan a way to fix what she had done and the two heroes looked at each other, the way that they had

“Like that interview and the knowledge about the Miraculous?” Ladybug asked and Alya looked down and blushed in shame.

“I don’t even know why I did it in the first place, she just said what I wanted to hear and I didn’t think.” Alya said and Ladybug reached over and squeezed Alya’s shoulder.

“She used you, she’s a monster, she doesn’t care who she hurts as long as her goals are met.” Chat said bitterly and Alya’s snapped her head towards him and her mouth dropped open.

“How do you…..what do you mean?” Alya was able to stammer and Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other for a few moments before Chat Noir pointed at his forehead and Ladybug nodded.

“When the girl who became Riposte became Oni-Chan, Lila tricked me to leave Ladybug to fight her alone.” Chat Noir said causing Alya to gasp and looked at Ladybug as Chat Noir continued. “She faked being injured and since she was the target I carried her away and then.”

“Chat told me on the next patrol we had. After that whenever we saw her we tried to look at what she was doing with one eye open when we encounter her because of Akumas.” Ladybug said as Alya starred at her in total shock.

“She’s a monster, a total monster! Oh god, what is going through her head!?” Alya asked and Chat Noir scowled and Ladybug sighed.

“We don’t know. ………. When she first came here I was passing by and I saw her telling that model, what’s his name again…….Darien, Ernie?”

“Adrien milady. I think his name is Adrien.” Chat Noir said and Alya perked up and looked at them.

“Yeah, him. She was telling him that she knew me and well….. combinded with her interview then Hawkmoth might have attacked her family!” Ladybug said and Alya looked at her as Chat Noir nodded. “So I confronted her about it and well then she became Volpina.”

“And we don’t have proof but she might have helped Hawkmoth set up the Hero-Day attack, we’re not sure what school she went to at the time soooo.” Chat Noir said with a shrug.

Alya only looked at the heroes in total shock, unable to comprehend what they were talking about before she realized just what they were saying. “Illusions, that’s her power as Volpina…… but how did she…… she was playing hooky all those months?”

“As Chat said we don’t have proof. But personally I wouldn’t be surprised if she has been working for Hawkmoth.” Ladybug said causing Alya to gasp as her mouth dropped open and Chat Noir to scowl and look away.

“Really wouldn’t surprise me.” Chat said flatly and Alya looked at him as Ladybug eyes shot to Chat’s as she hopped he wouldn’t let on to Alya who he was.

“I can’t believe this, someone is actually working with Hawkmoth?! Why?” Alya asked as she couldn’t comprehend why on earth anyone would want to help the magical terrorist.

“We’re not sure, but we’re not sure she’s not working for him.” Ladybug said and Alya looked at them and scowled. “But what did you want to talk to us about? Anything besides Lila?”

“I wanted to set the record straight about her. She got a friend of mine kicked out of school and I didn’t believe her when she said that Lila was behind it.” Alya said and looked away, missing the look Chat Noir shot Ladybug before Alya turned back. “Beyond everything I want to make sure that my friend gets justice, and if I have to tear apart every one of her lies then so be it!”

“That’s fine then, we’ll be happy to make a statement right LB?” Chat Noir asked and turned his head and looked at Ladybug who smiled, not what they would do but at the wink Chat Noir sent her that Alya couldn’t see.

Alya waved goodbye as the two heroes ran away and suddenly turned when she heard the door opened and revealed Nora standing there in a green buttoned tee-shirt and black pants, a smirk on her face.

“So that was why you ran off to little sister, what did the Heroes need from you?” Nora asked and Alya stared at her.

“Nora, how long have you been there?” Alya asked as she tried to recover her equilibrium.

“Only the last couple of minutes while you were saying goodbye to them, so what’s up?” Nora asked nad Alya looked away. “Hey sis, what is it?”

“I messed up sis, I messed up big, I didn’t believe my best friend and I projected something I did onto her actions and she got hurt because I trusted the wrong person.” Alya said and Nora looked at Alya and raised an eyebrow.

“Do we need to get the parents sis?” Nora asked and Alya looked away. “Alya?”

“Dad’s due back for supper tomorrow night, and Mom will be here too, I’d like to tell all of you about it together, okay?” Alya said and looked at Nora. “I need to talk to Marinette, get an answer about something she said but it might be important.”

“Are you hurt little sis, that’s what most important okay?” Nora asked concerned.

“Only my pride.” Alya said and walked towards the door. “I don’t want to talk about it, okay sis?”

Nora only nodded as Alya passed her, promising that she would help her sister no matter what was wrong.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As she sat in the teacher’s lounge before classes started, Miss Mendeleiv frowned as she looked over the report on Lila. _None of this makes any sense. She should have had a meeting between her parents and the school by now, I don’t get it. The only reason that she hasn’t is either…… two things one that stupid owl was scared off or he was payed off! After what happened with her you think that stupid owl would have remembered what **not** to do! I swear this school is going to be shut down!_ She thought as she sipped her coffee and tried to get her emotions back under control. “Come on, don’t give that scum someone to take advantage of so early in the morning, take a deep breath and stay calm.”

As she sighed and did a meditation exercise to control her heartbeat and emotions a commotion outside caused her to look up with a raised eyebrow. As the door opened she heard the

“………and I’m telling you that’s how it happened!” Caline said as she came in to the room, her head looking over her shoulder before she turned it and walked to the counter and grabbed a cup to pour herself some coffee.

“I can’t believe it, no! I know how the laws are, I know what’s right or wrong! To think that you did nothing Caline!” D'Argencourt voice caused Miss Mendeleiv to wince. This wasn’t going to be good. “At the very least you should have walked them to the office yourself.”

“I had to watch my class, I couldn’t leave my students alone!” Caline said and at this D’Argentocourt only scoffed.

“Then you should have had the class representative watch them while you took them! If something happened

“Marinette was the representative! And I still need to get a new one soon!” Caline said and at this Miss Mendeleive looked up and hid a glare at her words. 

“Then the deputy then! And calling her to the front of the room without bringing her outside the room?! What in the world were you thinking?!” He countered and Caline winced and looked around, when she noticed Miss Mendeleive there she looked up, hoping for some help but when Miss Mendeleive only scowled she looked down.

“Even I have to admit that you messed up by doing that public, and for an anonymous report? And if the answer sheet was missing before the test, then you shouldn’t have gone through with it in the first place Caline!” Miss Mendeleiv said and Caline Buister looked at her with a shocked expression.

“But it went missing after the test!” Caline said and then she went silent at the looks she was getting.

“What??” D'Argencourt exploded and Miss Mendeleiv stared at Caline as she looked back at them.

“You mean to say that the answer sheet was taken **AFTER** the test?!” Miss Mendeleiv exclaimed as she shot up, her face angry beyond and Caline looked at them confused and could only stare at them in confusion. “Then Marinette couldn’t have used it to cheat on it! What were you thinking!?”

“And what was the sequence the events that led to her being expelled?!” D'Argencourt demanded and Caline swallowed at the look on his face and collected herself before she started to speak.

“I discovered that the answer sheet was missing during lunch after the test, and then someone nocked on the door to my room and ran away, I found a paper tapped to the door that said that Marinette took the answer sheet.” Caline

“What kind of paper?” Mr. D'Argencourt demanded and Caline looked at him before continuing.

“The paper was typed, by a computer it could have come from anywhere, Then when the answer sheet was found in her backpack Marinette accused Lila and after a few moments we all heard a scream and Lila was down at the bottom of the stairs. Then Lila said that Marinette had stolen a necklace and it was in Marinette’s locker.” Caline began when Mr. D'Argencourt interrupted.

“Did that fool even check for fingerprints or was it all done on the word of one person with no proof!?” Mr. D'Argencourt demanded and Caline shook her head. “Unbeleivable, and Miss Marinette’s locker has been broken into this year alone, and there are no locks for heaven’s sake!”

“Lila grabbed the necklace and then Marinette’s parents were called, then after she was expelled those scarlet Akuma’s attacked and well.” Caline explained and the other two teachers shared a look with each other.

“She did that before she was taken to the hospital? What were you thinking letting her move about like that.” Miss Mendeleiv and Mr. D’Argencourt both looked at each other and Caline started to get a sinking feeling. “What is it Caline?”

“Who, Marinette? Why would she have to go to the hospital?” Caline asked and Miss Mendeleiv only stared at the younger teacher.

“I’m talking about Lila, after a fall down the stairs to the courtyard, onto hard cement!” Miss Mendeliev said angrily and Caline looked at her in total confusion. “What’s with that look Caline?”

“She didn’t go to the hospital.” Caline said and Mr. D’Argencourt stared at her as Miss Mendeliev’s mouth dropped open and stared at Caline as she

“The nurse said she didn’t have to go the hospital?!” Miss Mendeliev asked in total shock, wondering how she didn’t know that. “What kind of fall did Lila have to not be injured!?” 

“She didn’t go to the nurse.” Caline said and the other two teachers went still in shock.

Mr. D'Argencourt and Miss. Mendeliev only looked at Caline as the bell rang, Caline smiled at them and walked out of the room. The two teachers looked at each other and Mr. D'Argencourt started to swear in German and Miss. Mendeliev put her head down.

“How does this work with the notes you’ve been taking my dear?” D'Argencourt asked weakly and Miss. Mendeliev sighed.

“I still can’t explain the scarlet Akuma’s the first time, and then there’s this attack! The only answer is one I’m sure you came to as well.” Miss said as Mr. D'Argencourt nodded and they both sighed. “Well we best go and take care of our classes my friend, we’ll find some way to survive.”

Of that I have no doubt my lady, of that I have no doubt. Mr. D'Argencourt said as he openend the door for Miss. Mendeliev who laughed and curtsied after she got up and grinned at him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Fred Haprele sighed as he walked around the courtyard and shook his head. _I can’t believe that happened the other day, none of it feels right! And something’s bothering me about Marinette’s punishment, I mean was she even giving a chance to defend herself? There’s something else here, I can feel it!_ He thought as he walked towards the stairs and frowned as his eyes looked over them. As he walked up the stairs he saw nothing that indicated that Lila had fallen or that anyone had cleaned the area. “Nothing about this makes sense, I mean nothing at all. Maybe the nurse will know 

He looked back down at the courtyard and saw a group of people, a man in a suit and three police officers. He walked down the stairs at a brisk pace and moved towards them, frowning when he saw them looking at him with scowls on.

“Good morning, my name is Fred Haprele, how can I help you?” Fred asked and he relaxed as he saw the scowls leassen.

“I’m officer Jacob, this is Officer Robert and Coby. We have a warrant to serve, I’m going to have to aske you to take us to the security room so we can download a few files.” Officer Jaccob said as he held out a hand that Fred took and shook.

“I don’t suppose I can see it could I?” Fred asked and the man in the suite smiled and took out a few papers that he handed over to Fred who took them and whistled when he saw the name on the document and nodded. “These all seem to be in order, this way please.

As Fred walked towards the security room he looked over his shoulder and saw the four people following behind him and smiled over his shoulder. “You all came in the right time, class just started so you’ll be able to get in and out fast……but I’m guessing that you all planned it this way?”

“A few files that I need for a case. Mr. Haprele……. You wouldn’t be someone who’s been at this…….. _school_ long have you?” The suit asked and Fred shook his head. 

“No I only started working here a few years ago….. about three now that I think about it. The people who’ve been here the longest are Mr. D and Miss Mendeleiv.” Fred said and the suit relaxed and smiled at him.

“Then you needn’t worry, but you might want to find another job.” The suit said and Fred stared at him, stopping and looking at him. “Mr. Haprele, is something wrong?”

“Why would I need a different job?” Fred asked and the suit smiled darkly and Fred felt a shift of terror.

“Let us just say that old sins have a way of coming back, and this place has quite a few.” The suit said and smiled at Fred. “But that’s not important right now, the security room sir?”

“This way please.” Fred said as he swallowed. _Maybe I should talk to the old man about becoming the manager of the theater after all. It might be the best decision after all._ He thought as he led the way through the school.

A few moments later they moved down a flight of stairs and the suit looked around. “You know, I remember the security room being on the top floor once.”

“Oh it was.” Fred said as they walked down a hallway. “But the story is that it was moved after a fire in the old science room burned down the wall dividing them and fighting the fire destroyed the computers. They had to get new computers, there was a bit of unused space down here so the decision was made to destroy the damaged wall and turn both rooms into the new art room.”

“Oh, I think I heard about that.” Robert said and Fred nodded.

“Came into this place during the construction really, and parts of my duties are to transfer the data to a new drive every month.” Fred said and the suit nodded.

“Good, but I have to know when the next scheduled transfer is supposed to take place.” The suit asked and Fred looked up

“Actually it’s supposed to be tomorrow, you’re lucky that you’re here now.” Fred said and the suit nodded.

“Wait, what? But this is only the second week of the month!” one of the officers exclaimed as the other two nodded as the

“Yeah, it’s usually later but the principle was adamant about it, he wants it done sooner this month for some reason.” Fred said and the suit chuckled.

“That makes sense, so the old man could learn.” The suit muttered and Fred looked at him as he only grinned back.

A few moments later in the security room the suit had taken out an external hard drive and Fred sent the last month’s CCTV camera’s for the last two weeks and nodded at the suit. 

“Now the cameras are sub divided by day, good luck finding out anything that you need, and they turn on at the first bell and turn off at a the last.” Fred said once and the suit offered his hand that Fred took.

“Thank you, now officers, Mr. Haprele I just need you all to sign that you witnessed the transfer and you Mr. Haprele just need to sign for the authenticity.” The suit said as he got out a piece of paper from his briefcase. As they finished sinning the paper Fred looked up at his boss’s voice.

“What is the meaning of this?! Mr. Haprele; who are these people and what are they doing here?!” A voice from behind them caused them to turn and see Mr. Damocles standing outside the room looking in with a glare and

“Hello Damocles’, how long has it been?” The Suit asked and Mr. Damocles’ turned towards him and paled as he saw the suit

“Mr. Artoga….. what are you doing here?!” Damocles asked and Mr. Artoga only grinned at him evily.

“Oh, I’m just serving out a warrant. I expect that you will be hearing from the school board sooner or later about it.” Artoga purred as Fred watched as Damocles backed up and started to sweat. “I think this time I’ll get justice without a girl dying. Goodbye Owl-man”

As the suit walked away Fred looked at his boss and frowned as he leaned against the door. “What was that about sir?”

Damocles shook his head and looked at Fred with a glare full of anger and Fred scowled back.

“NEVER MIND THAT! Why on earth did you take that…..that _parasite_ down here?!” Damocles demanded and Fred crossed his arms.

“He had a lawful warrant and three officers of the law as backup, that was legal and I was full within my rights and responsabilites to this school to have done that! if you have a problem with it then I will contact my union rep for you to talk to with me!”

“Nevermind that, what did they want anyway?” Damocles demanded and Fred shrugged.

“Nothing much, just the camera’s recording for the month so far. Why?” Fred asked as Damocles just paled and looked at the security system and staggered off to Fred’s confusion.


	7. Chapter 7

As the bell rang Miss. Bustier looked up from the board and turned around and frowned. “Since we couldn’t finish I want you all to read the next two chapters and be ready for a discussion on Monday, everyone have a nice weekend and we will have to get around to choosing a new class represented next week.”

Max looked over and saw Kim keeping his mouth closed as he heard what Miss Bustier said and felt proud of his friend, the work that they had done on his temper was working.

“I’ll see you next weak everyone.” Miss Bustier said and she seemed obvious to all the anger and rage Kim was sending at her as she moved about her desk gather what papers she would need for the weekend. As Max watched Chloe took a step towards her before turning and walking off with Sabrina following behind her, putting their teacher out of mind and ignoring her on purpose, surprising Max and now that he thought about it, those two hadn’t been even remotely taken in by Lila. 

Max looked at Kim who swallows what he was about to say and got up, joining the others as they moved out of the classroom, Max waited a few seconds more before making a show of checking his phone before he got up, noticing Lila had been looking at him for some reason. Max watched as Kim caught Max’s eye and nodded before he got up and looked around, seeing Lila was leaving and Miss Buistier noticing Kim was heading towards the exit into the school, Max looked down at his phone as it vibrated and saw a message from Kim.

MonkeyMan; Hey, going to talk to the weather girls, I think there might be something the student council can do, will tell you after the I talk about it with the others, keep quiet science-kid.

Max smirked. _Great idea Kim, if they know anything then we can get some justice for Marinette that much easier. Wait, what about Alix? And if Lila figures out Kim is going to help Marinette?!_

Max thought and saw Alix heading towards the courtyard and notice Lila talking to Nathaniel loudly.

“Yes, the shoot the other day was terrible and with the Akuma it was pushed back to today. I hope that we’re able to get it done today.” Lila said as Nathaniel listened with one ear and nodded. 

Max saw Alix stopping at the door before she turned and walked towards Miss. Bustier.

“Hey teach, I got a question about the subject, got a few minutes?” Alix asked and Max sighed and moved past them as Miss. Bustier looked up and smiled.

As Max walked out of the room he looked down and saw Alya and Nino walking with Nathaniel and Lila and frowned. _I don’t want to not trust those two, we all fought together and she choose them for a reason. I have to hope that Lila hasn’t pulled them into her web._ Max thought as he followed the mass of students as school ended and everyone went about their business and moved towards their homes.

As Max walked slowly out of the College he stopped at the top of the stairs as the other students left and cleared out of the area, he looked around, noticing Kitty Select had all walked off together talking quietly as Lila looked around before moving towards a car, something about a photoshoot because the last one had failed utterly. He was far enough back to see Alya and Nino watching Lila drive out of sight before they both nodded and walked towards the Dupree-Chang Bakery and he sighed as he finally saw the last data points he needed to know for sure who they were

Max looked up at the bakery and sighed. _This isn’t going to be pretty, but if I don’t do this then I’ll hate myself forever. And they should know that I know. And then there’s what Markov discovered about Lila, there’s a 100% certainty that they don’t know about this, any of it._ Max thought as he shuddered as he remembered what Marokov had found on the web. “I have to tell them, I can’t not.”

“I don’t know Max.” Markov spoke up from his bag causing Max to look down at his friend. “Have you thought about if Marinette’s know?”

“Oh, of course,” Max said and hit his head and shook his head. “Then keeping quiet about it around others is probably best then.”

Max watched as Nino and Alya walked into the bakery and sighed. “You’re right, I have to do this, I can’t not.”

Max walked towards the bakery and he felt Markov bump him through the bag and smiled, making Markov was one of the best things he had ever done.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

“So what’s the reason why you two aren’t going back to the College when this is done?” Nino asked as he, Alya, Marinette and Adrien sat around Marinette’s room and he smirked at the way that Adrien and Marinette were acting. _Those two finally wised up and confessed that they’re into each other, about time. But I have to wonder about that other girl Adrien told me about, and how he didn’t feel right going after Mari because of his feelings for her?_ Nino thought as Alya grinned at her friends.

“Yeah, and about you two!” Alya said and Marinette blushed as Adrien rubbed the back of his head.

“What gave us away?” Adrien asked and Alya squealed and hugged Marinette as Nino chuckled.

“You did it, finally!” Alya said with a laugher as Marinette just blushed and Adrien looked sheepish. “After everything you finally told him and he accepted, girl you have to tell me what happened!”

“Yeah dude, I mean you used to talk to me that you didn’t feel good about dating because of those feelings for that other girl.” Nino said and Alya perked up and looked from Nino to Adrien with a strange look in her eyes. Marinette looked on with a small grin as she hoped Alya wouldn’t dig into this, but knowing that she would. Marinette just looked down trying not to look Alya in the eyed as Adrien coughed and both of them wondered how to explain their love-square without exposing their identities.

“It’s complicated bro, and if I knew the school I was trying to get into was **that** school I might have stayed homeschooled.” Adrien said and shook his head. Nino’s mouth dropped open and he stared at him in total shock as Alya looked between the two of them and when Marinette nodded she looked at the three of them with a spark of fear. _I can’t believe this, I just can’t. Sunshine always talks about how he prefers to be around us……. What happened in that school?!_ Alya thought as a shiver went down her spine.

“What do you mean?” Alya asked and with everyone’s eyes on Adrien, nobody noticed Marinette’s hatch open.

“An adult……. _friend_ of mine’s goddaughter, she almost committed suicide because of bullying, at Dupont!” Adrien said and Nino jerked back and Ayla’s mouth dropped open. “And given how the school been treating bullies even after that, I wouldn’t trust that place with someone I hated!”

“What do you mean?” Alya asked and Marinette just sighed and shook her head.

“Given how our _teacher_ acted with regards to Lila, I can guess with about seventy percent surety that it’s more something from the principle office.” A voice caused the four friends to turn and see Max sticking his head up.

“Max, what are you doing here!?” Marinette asked as the others looked shocked at him.

“My apologies for coming in uninvited but I wanted to talk with you all.” Max said as he got up and brought out his phone and suddenly Marinette’s phone vibrated. Bringing it out she saw a message from Max on it and looked at it before showing it to the others.

Brainy: Is this room secured?

As they watched Max brought out a small remote controller with a screen on it and pointed it around the room and stopped at a statue on a table. Max turned towards them and Marinette shook her head and Max put the remote away.

“Are you sure Marinette? My device detects a wireless signal from this thing, and given what I saw online once this is one of the ‘Parental Overwatch’ line.” Max asked and Marinette nodded.

“Yeah it’s fine Max but what are you doing here?” Marinette asked and Max pushed his glasses back and Markov flew out and orbited Marinette.

“We were so worried about what Lila did Marinette, and what I found on the net we just had to come over.” Markov said and Alya looked down with shame that it had slipped by her.

“That’s it, no wonder about why Adrien is hiding here?” Alya asked as they looked at Maxx who nodded.

“No, given who he is I expected him to be here if he was hiding.” Max said as he closed his eyes, missing the looks of confusion appeared on the others faces but how it turned to horror on Adrien’s face. “I can understand the need for secrecy but given what has happened with Lila the two of us thought that talking to you two about what we found was important, when I saw Nino and Alya come over I thought to do the same and well.”

“Wait, what secret?” Alya asked as she saw Marinette and Adrien pale.

“You don’t need to hide it from me Alya, I must say that the way you’ve been using the Ladyblog has been amazing. If I didn’t know better I would say that you didn’t know anything at all.” Max said with a grin as he opened his eyes but it fell as he looked at Alya and he started to pale as he saw confusion on her face and shock on Marinette and Adrien’s pale faces while Nino looked between them with a look of slow understanding. Max stared at them before his own mouth dropped open. “You didn’t know, oh my. I am so sorry you two, this makes sense.”

“What are you talking about Max?” Alya asked and Marinette just face palmed and Alya looked at her as Adrien sighed.

“You know he can’t blame us for this one, but how Max, that’s what I want to know.” Adrien said and Max grinned sheepishly.

“Interactions with all of you on both sides of the mask so to speak, and help from my friend here.” Max said as he nodded at Markov who floated and ‘smiled’.

“I kept track of everyone when Akuma attack, and after a while I noticed a pattern after a while. And then there was Star Train, the Horse made me realize a few things and then I told Max once we were away. That’s how I figured you two out, then Heroes Day with Bubbler and Lady Wifi not being part of the mess I and then the appearances of Rena Rouge and Carapace, that figured out with what I deduced.” Markov said and at this Marinette started to look resigned and Nino’s mouth dropped open in awe as he looked between Adrien and Marinette, a look of stark disbelief in his eyes as Alya just looked more confused by the minute.

“That’s impressive; I wonder how you figured it out when nobody else ever did.” Marinette said and Alya started to get angry, not understanding anything about what she was hearing.

“Probably because of what I am, that’s my guess. And the way that I figured out Lila’s lies and what I found on the internet about her.” Markov said as he started to look worried and maybe scared. “She’s really something, worse than I thought people could be out of stories.”

“Okay that’s enough! What are you talking about?!” Alya asked with a scowl and Max looked at Marinette and Adrien who looked down at their bodies for a few moments.

“No choice kids, we’ve been breached.” A dry voice came from Adrien’s shirt. Before Alya could react someone else spoke up.

“Plagg!” A voice from Marinette’s purse called out angrily caused Alya to jerk from Adrien to Marinette. “They might have gotten by without you!”

“No way sugarclub, we’ve been found out!” The first voice said as a tiny black cat like creature floated out of Adrien’s shirt. Alya’s mouth dropped open as she saw the creature before a huff caused her head to whip around and see a red and black spotted creature the same tiny size come out of Marinette’s purse.

“Those are Kwami…… those are the _black cat and_ _ladybug Kwami_. Those are Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s Kwami…. Your two are!!!” Alya began until Nino covered her mouth. 

“Baby, deep breath girl. Through your noise, out your mouth.” Nino said and after a few moments of doing that Alya seemed to calm down and Nino moved his hands away. “Better baby?”

“Yeah…… girl you’ve been Ladybug all this time?! Wow, that was your textbook I found all those months ago!” Alya said and Marinette smiled a little as the kwami next to her looked at Alya. “And you’re the kwami that’s been with every Ladybug!”

“Yeah, we’re them. I’m Plagg and that’s Tikki, nice to finally meet Tixx’s newest kit.” Plagg said with a laugh in his voice.

“I can’t believe this, all this time I’ve been sitting next to Ladybug….. and I can’t believe that Max figured out my ‘Ladybug hunts’ haven’t been real.” Alya said and Marinette’s eyes widened.

“What!? They haven’t?” Marinette said and Alya shook her head with a grin.

“I’ve read enough comics about what happened when the super-villain finds out who the hero is before I came Paris to do that in real life. And with Hawkmoth not being an idiot I figured out that he’s probably following my blog.” Alya said with a shrug. “The hunts are basically the most out of the box and unlikely ideas about how to find Ladybug that I could do, I mean I want to be a reporter an all but knowing what to put out and what not, that’s important too. And if Hawkbut spends time following what I do instead of looking himself, that’s just a bonus.”

Everyone could only look at Alya with respect in their eyes and Marinette whistled a little.

“Thanks Alya, you even fooled me.” Marinette said as she stared at her friend.

“Sorry about that, but I read a quote a long time ago, ‘to fool your foes fool your friends’ and well.” Alya said and laughed a little. As she smirked she looked at Plagg and Tikki as they floated by their chosen and grinned. “But don’t think you four are off the hook like that, and Max when did you figure it out.”

“Markov figured their secrets a few weeks after I introduced him to everyone, and after yesterday I was positive who you two were.” Max said and Nino leaned forward.

“So back on track dude, what about the battle yesterday let you figure me and Alya out, you hack into the stadiums cameras or something?” Nino asked and Max laughed a little. “Did Markov?”

“No I had firsthand data to finally realize the truth.” Max said as he smirked. “Allow me to reintroduce myself, the name’s Pegasus.”

Alya and Nino just looked at him and then laughed a little, Alya shaking her head in mirth.

“Man o man, I would not have figured it was you Max! I don’t believe this, I really didn’t believe one of my top three questions would have been answered today!”

“Top three, who Ladybug and Chat Noir but what’s the third?” Marinette asked as she tried to come to terms with what had just happened.

“Why Hawkmoth wants the Miraculous for, it’s gotta be important to him but why?” Alya said and as they saw Marinette and Adrien look at Plagg and Tikki she realized that they knew the answer to that question.

“A wish, that’s what Hawkmoth is after.” Plagg said and looked around at the others in the room and raised a paw at Tikki who glared at him. “They know enough to be in trouble, best to tell them the rest so they don’t get into it.”

“A wish…..is it like a genie or a monkey paw?” Nino asked and Tikki shook her head as Plagg growled in anger.

“Neither, the wish is all about balance.” Plagg said bluntly. “The Black Death was worse then it was the first time because somebody wished that his family didn’t’ die from another diseases and they caught the ‘death instead. Because it could spread faster the disease spread **farther** because his brother was a trader.”

“Wow, that’s horrible.” Adrien said and Plagg nodded grimly. 

“The bastard was one of the last ‘great’ mages too. The only justice is that I think the guardians said he died last out of his family.” Plagg said with a dark chuckled.

“A bit dark, aren’t you.” Alya asked as the others looked at him in concern as Tikki floated over and hugged him.

“He killed my kitten, the bastard stabbed him in the back literally!” Plagg said with a growl. “They had been fighting together against something else and betrayed him at after it died, I won’t talk about what it was okay.”

“Fine Plagg, we won’t push right?” Adrien said as Plagg just looked at them and he and Tikki floated down to Marinette’s bed.

“The wish is about balance, the only times it should be used is when there is no other choice, a dead end, mass loss of life at the least, and not the death of a city or a country, death of a continent or the planet.” Tikki said solemnly. “If one person wishes that someone doesn’t get a diseases then they get another that they hadn’t, if they wish to save a life another is taken that means the same as the one saved.”

“But Hawkmoth…….” Max trailed off and the others looked at each other, the horror they were feeling reflected by all the teens and Tikki sighed.

“Personally kids, I think he learned about it from a diary of somebody who heard about the existence of the wish and not the exact details, Nooroo wouldn’t be able to tell if anything.” Plagg said tiredly as they looked at him. “Me and Sugarclub are the only kwamis that can talk about it openly, everyone else can only give small details, a safety feature that the old mage who made the Miraculous put in to keep secrets.”

“This is worse than I thought this talk would go, and I haven’t even gotten to the information I found about Lila.” Max said with a shiver as the others looked at him.

“What did you find Max?” Adrien asked and Max looked between Marinette and Adrien before he took and released a deep breath.

“From what I found, Lila has driven a few people to suicide over the years, at least two and once or twice she might have destroyed a few people friendships like she was trying to do to Marinette.” Max said and closed his eyes as he saw Alya start to go red as Marinette paled and Adrien grabbed her, Nino put his hat down and the Kwami only looked on, something about Lila had bothered them and this wasn’t a big a shock as it was to the others.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Chloe walked through the hotel’s entrance and saw Nathalie following behind her and smirked. G _ood, this is perfect. All I have to do is make sure she overhears me._ She thought as she walked towards the front desk.

“You, the special guest in the ninth Suite, he hasn’t had any problems so far right?!” Chloe demanded and the receptionist nodded and

“Yess….. he hasn’t bothered anyone so far and his meals were delivered on time Miss. Bourgeois.” The receptionist said and Chloe brought her phone called up one of the lobby’s cameras and saw Nathalie hiding nearby enough to let her overhear them.

“Good, I want no excuses; I don’t want him to have any reasons to leave.” Chloe said and the receptionist looked a bit startled.

“To leave, but Miss Bourgeois……” The receptionist began began but stopped when she held up a hand.

“I don’t want ot hear it, I don’t want anyone to even know who he’s using it, am I understood.” Chloe said with a growl. The receptionist nodded and Chloe looked at her phone and saw Nathalie move away and smirked as she realized her plan had worked.

“But Miss Bourgeois I really don’t understand, why are you telling me this, the guest couldn’t even leave the room on his own and we make sure he’s safe while he’s recovering.” The receptionist said and Chloe smiled at her and looked her name tag before making a note on her phone.

“I know that, you know that but she didn’t.” Chloe said with a grin and waved her away. “It doesn’t matter Elizabeth, just know that you’ll get a small bonus, very small for what you did.”

“Thank you? But my name is Ester…..” Easter said as she watched as Chloe walked away and quickly turned towards the other employees nearby and shrugged when they looked as confused as she was. As Chloe got into the elevator she activated a messenger program and sent a text to Sabrina

MayorDaughter; Hey Rina, I just tricked Gabriel’s Girl Friday into thinking that A’s in the Ninth Suite, I can’t wait until they try and break down the door.

CopDaughter; Chloe! You know who’s in there! 

MayorDaughter; Yeah, I stopped last night and he’s left the room this morning, all that’s in there is a little waste that I hope they get a face full of. And I have his permission to do it, and I asked housekeeping not to work on it until the day after tomorrow.

CopDaughter; Will your dad be okay with that?

MayorDaughter; The truth is that floor of Suites is being giving a thorough cleaning and a remodel, something daddy’s being planning so all the guests left already, the new furniture won’t be in until next week, also the only reason dad let him have the room.

CopDaughter; Lucky, I found a good homeschool program with group projects that we need to record how we’re working on them, and the test looks good.

MayorDaughter; Perfect! All we have to do is make sure Adrien and Bakery-girl partner up enough to let the feelings they have for each other get through Adrien’s obvious head.

CopDaughter; I still don’t get why you’re trying to set them up Chloe, I mean I know you don’t hate Marinette but why?

MayorDaughter; Marinette is the girl I love to bite at because nine out of ten she bites back, it’s good practice for later in life….. and those two deserve each other, they both need each other.

CopDaughter; But what about Kagami?

MayorDaughter; As good as she’s trying, she sees Adrien as what he isn’t, I got that from a few talks with her…… and she’s got as much baggage as he does but she needs something else. Someone who’s I don’t know, not hiding who he is like Adrien is.

CopDaughter; You get people a lot better than I do, so okay. And I’ll talk to dad about it tomorrow, something about how the school might be an Akuma breeding ground.

MayorDaughter; We were ground zero after all, and it might cut down when the school closes, the things I’ve heard……. And I overheard a plan the education department was going if a school is ever shut down, I think that all the clubs will continue but they might move to the new convention center in another arrondissement.

CopDaughter; Not too far I hope, I mean a good…… wait there’s a plan incase a school is shut down for an investigation?!

“And once again you prove that you’ll the smartest person in the school ‘Rina. Why you like acting like a servant I don’t know, if you just…..” Chloe said as the elevator stopped on her floor and she got out.

MayorDaughter; Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow when I’ll ‘get’ my homework from you.

CopDaughter; I know why we do this Chloe, but I don’t like it anyway. I mean I get your reasoning why and why you keep quiet from everyone but they would help you, I’m sure of it!

“You always were the most hopeful of the two of us ‘Rina, I love that about you. But this has to be my cross.” Chloe said as she opened the door to her room and moved towards her desk.

MayorDaughter; I don’t doubt that most of them would help me ‘Rina, but I learned that a secret is only kept the fewer people know it a long time ago. See you tomorrow, going dark.

Chloe turned off her phone and smiled as she called up an outside camera on her laptop and saw Nathalie looking at the hotel. “The trap has the bait, but will you bite into uncle G, or will you wait until it’s disarmed?”

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Outside the hotel Nathalie looked upwards and shook her head. “I knew you were hiding here Adrien, I didn’t expect to find you so easily.”

As she walked away from the hotel she tried to think about what she could do with this information, how she could handle this. _I need to tell Gabriel about this, but should I? He’ll just charge in and make this worse, that’s what will happen. I need to find a way to talk to him alone, if I can do that._ Nathalie thought as she looked down at her tablet and looked up the information for the hotel and the various entrances she could use to slip into the building.

“I can arrange to be around here tomorrow, maybe I can tell him that I found a clue that he’s around here and I just want to talk to him. “Nathalie muttered as she walked towards the Agreste mansion. _All I need is a particular rampaging Akuma to attack and then I can say it’s best to grab him to protect him, he’ll buy that._ Nathalie thought as she walked away, a plan forming in her mind, all she needed to do was talk to Gabriel and hope for the best, that the best _intern_ could be found. “And if this one works out, so much the better.

As Nathalie walked away, she never notice a camera had turned and was looking at her, never knowing that she had fallen into a trap that would lead to something…… messy.

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Alya walked through Paris in a daze, what Max had revealed and what Adrien had told them about the school was still causing her to barely perceive Paris around her. She didn’t even notice that Nino walked next to her, holding onto her arm and shepherding her towards her building, and a few times he had to stop her from walking into traffic. As they walked Nino looked at her with concern his own thoughts running wild. “Babe, you can’t let what Max told you get you down, Lie-la has had experience at this shit from what he told us.”

“It’s not just that Nino, what Adrien said about the school, I should have found out about it!” Alya said angrily as she turned to Nino with a glare and he held his hands up, trying to calm her down.

“Why?” Nino asked forcibly and Alya stopped dead still and turned her head towards him.

“What?” Alya asked as Nino was able to shock her and as she looked at him she realized what she had said.

“Why should you have found out about Alya?” Nino asked and she looked away, causing him to soften his gaze and put a hand on her shoulder. “Come on baby, talk to me Alya. What is it?”

“Before we moved and got our apartment, I investigated the schools so we would know the best ones to apply to were, for me and my sisters.” Alya said as Nino ahhed as he understood what had really been bothering her. “If I missed that, then what else did I miss about their school?”

“I’ve lived in this city for all my life, and I never heard about that too Alya. And the school your sisters go to, I went there and my brother does too. The principle is a lot better than the Owl and the teacher they have, he wrote a book on spotting bullying and dealing with it, they’ll safe there.” Nino said and smirked when Alya looked at him. “Yeah, the teach is that good.”

“That takes a little off my mind, but I’ll still look into the teachers there on the web, see what I can find.” Alya said and looked at Nino. “So, going to talk to your parents about it?”

“Yeah, a program with projects that we could do together, that would be nice.” Nino said and smirked a little. “At least this way Akuma ground zero would probably move away from others and all.”

“Around our age at least.” Alya said and smirked. “And just think, on a good day we could all gather together and maybe learn with each other or other stuff.”

“Adrien’s a wizards with physics, Marinette’s great at geology and history, you’ll great at math and I’m a pro with literature, heck I think even Chloe does great at science.” Nino said and Alya grinned back.

“I guess even Chloe has some skills hu?” Alya asked and Nino smirked.

“Yeah she does, I mean the year before she had to tutor me for a while…… long story something about something her dad needed and she had to skip a lab and I need a few more points on my average.” Nino said with a shrug at Alya’s look. “Like I said; it’s a long story.”

“Fine, but I will get around to getting the answer sooner or later.” Alya said with a smirk as she punched his arm lightly and he laughed and looked at her with a small smile. “What?”

“Your back to normal, guess I shocked you out Alya.” Nino said with a smirk and Alya looked at him before looking down with a blush as she realized how she had acted before.

“Okay, yeah I admit I was a bit over there, but after what we learned I think I was within my rights Nino.” Alya said as she looked around and Nino nodded at her, agreeing with what wasn’t being said.

“At least that we’ll talk to whoever gave ‘em soon about this.” Nino said with a shrug, Alya nodding as she remembered that Marinette had promised to text them once they talked to ‘The Guardian’. “And I’m going to talk to my Ma about maybe switching to homeschool, you?”

“Yeah, and we have to tell the others about this, we can’t let them get caught flat footed.” Alya said and Nino nodded. 

“I’ve got to head towards the river for a pickup for ma, I’ll stop by the _Liberty_ and tell Jules about it, she’ll tell Rose and the others, and I’ll tell Alix tomorrow before school, and we so need a chat without _her._ “ Nino said as Alya growled in a canine way and he looked at her with a smirk. “Your _Trixx_ is showing.”

“Low blow.” Alya said with a laugh as they crossed the street and she sighed as she saw her building. “There’s home, I can’t wait to tell ma and pa about this.”

“Look on the bright side, we could all join the same program and take ‘classes’ in the park.” Nino said and looked up and sighed. “I will miss the library and the music room.” 

“The public library has most of the books, we could track copies down online and well.” Alya said with a shrug. “And your music…… maybe you could rent a recording room or something, are there even places like that around town for that?”

“Sometihng to look into, maybe I could ask about on the net.” Nino said with a shrug and Alya laughed a little.

“Maybe, but wouldn’t Juleka or Luka know something about that?” Alya said and Nino grinned back at her.

“Yeah, maybe I could ask them about it when I stop by. Best to have everything ready before you need it, ya know?” Nino said and Alya laughed a little.

“Yeah I’ve been around Marinette’s parents long enough to have heard that saying, they’ve got a lot of them don’t they?” Nino said with a grin that fell as he looked ahead and saw Nora standing there waiting. “Party’s over, Hey Nora? How are you, I saw that you won your last match?”

“Sup stringbean. There you are Alya, ma and da are upstairs waiting for us so let’s go.” Nora said and Alya sighed and nodded, kissing Nino’s check.

“See you tomorrow Nino.” Alya said as she walked into the apartments and Nora pointed at her eyes before pointing at Nino who only laughed and walked away. Nora looked at Nino before sighing and turning around and walking after Alya, finding her sister heading towards the stairs and frowned.

“Okay little sister, what’d you do…….. no what didn’t you do?” Nora asked as she caught up to Alya who looked down and closed her eyes.

“I thought…… I believed that Marinette was pulling a me when I met Aisha.” Alya said and Nora looked at her sister and softened her eyes and grabbed Alya and hugged her, Alya stood there and started to cry as Nora held her.

“Oh little sis.” Nora said as Alya released her emotions, Nora looking around on the lookout for any Akumas. “Hang in there sis, you’ll stronger than this.”

“And the worst thing is she forgave me for it, Lila got Marinette expelled and she forgave me for not going with her to the principle,

“Why didn’t you call me as a character witness for her hearing? I mean I coulda been a character witness at the least.” Nora said as Alya calmed down and her older breathed a sigh of relief as no butterflies came towards them.

“She didn’t have one! And with what I learned, I’m not surprised at anything anymore about that place!” Alya said with a scowl as Nora looked at her with shock that slowly became anger.

“Okay that’s just wrong!” Nora said with a scowl and Alya nodded.

“Someone was driven to try and commit suicide at Dupont, and the staff still doesn’t protect victims!” Alya said and Nora looked at her sister not believe what she was hearing.

“Okay let’s go talk to transferring out of that place.” Nora said with a scowl.

“I want to become homeschooled. A few friends are considering that too, and a few programs have ‘classes’ where we can work together.” Alya said and Nora raised an eyebrow and snickered.

“Better not let the twin terrors hear about it, I mean they might want to try it too!” Nora said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, I mean can you imagine what they will be like if they do?” Alya asked and Nora laughed a little, glad to hear the joke in her sister’s voice.

“I’ll take your side little sis, but you have to convince mom and dad.” Nora said and Alya sighed.

“They are not going to be happy when I’m done with telling them about it.” Alya said as Nora nodded and moved forward and looked over her shoulder as she climbed the stairs.

“Well at least it’s takeout from mom and dad’s favorite tonight; at least they’ll be in a good mode.” Nora said causing Alya to laugh and follow after her.

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Adrien looked at Marinette who sat staring at the wall, completely shocked as Tikki floated by her head.

“Cheer up Marinette, at least you can say that you all didn’t transform in front of each other by accident right?” Tikki said as Plagg just snickered.

“Come on sugarclub, I mean how many times has something like this happened?” Plagg said from where he sat on Marinette’s bed with a laugh in his voice. “A thinker figures out who everyone is because he made a self-aware golem that talked to him about how they always disappeared and then he blurted out everyone’s identities! Oh man, when Fu hears about this!”

“Master Fu, oh he’ll be so mad; he’ll take our Miraculous and find a way to blanket our memories about this, when the new heroes show up Lila will figure out what happened because we won’t remember her and then Hawkmoth will Akumatize her then she torture us until they realizes we don’t remember anything and then….!” Marinette began to spiral and stopped when Adrien put a finger to her lips. She looked up and saw him smiling at her and looked down as she realized what she had been saying.

“So that was a Marinette freak out you always talked about Tikki?” Plagg asked with a grin as Adrien smiled at Marinette and Tikki only sighed. 

“She’s getting better, at least this one was about something serious.” Tikki said as Marinette flushed and looked away and Adrien smiled and hugged her, not noticing that Marinette’s blush had intensified.

“This wasn’t our fault and I think Master Fu won’t be too mad at this, I mean it was so out of what we could prepare for that I don’t think that we could have done anything differently.” Adrien said as Plagg and Tikki snickered at how Marinette was handling him hugging her. “And given that we trusted them with Miraculous, and that we know them I think he’ll trust them.”

“Yeah…. So think we should call him now or after supper?” Marinette was finally able to look at Adrien who looked back at her and sighed. “Now would be best, right?”

“Yeah, better get it over with now.” Adrien said and Marinette got her phone out and put it on her table and activated the speaker.

“Hello, is something wrong children?” Fu asked and Marinette looked at Adrien who reached over and squeezed her shoulder and smiled at her.

“Master Fu, there is no easy way to say this……” Marinette said before looking around at the others.

“The horse, the fox and turtle know old man.” Plagg cut in. “The horse’s golem figured it out and they thought the fox and turtle knew.”

“Oh my, I never even thought that something like that could happen. But how did……” Fu trailed off and muttered to himself and Adrien and Marinette looked at each other and shrugged.

“What’s happened happened, from what you all said this was not your fault and the others who have been with them have nothing but good things to say, but take them here tomorrow if you can.” Fu said after a while and a sigh was heard from the other end of the phone. “All in all, I never even thought that something like this could happen, but this wasn’t your fault all so don’t worry about me taking away Plagg or Tikki.”

“You knew master?” Adrien asked and Fu’s laughter came over the phone and they looked down.

“Yes, I think I’ve got a sense of who you both are by now and your worries by not new.” Fu’s voice came over with a chuckle and they heard a ding and an ahh. “Our dinner’s done, text me tomorrow children and good night.”

Adrien looked at Marinette as the call ended and chuckled. “You know, the few times I talked to him when he was teaching me Chinese, well Standard Mandarin he’s always seemed……… merry.”

“He does, doesn’t he? Since Tikki brought the book to him, he’s been helping me get my…… freakouts under control.” Marinette said and Adrien nodded.

“Yeah, the few times we’ve practived Mandarin together he’s been trying to help me, I like that about him you know? He’s not judgmental and with how dad is about _The Brand_ I think he’s just like a therapist at all.” Adrien said and Marinette looked at him with sadness in her eyes. “What?”

“I heard from Chloe how you were when your mother…… he never let you talk to someone about it, did he?” Marinette asked and Adrien sighed and shook his head.

“Dad just……….. shut down when she disappeared.” Adrien said as he looked down, both humans missing the look of rage on Plagg’s face as Tikki floated over and bumped him.

“Adrien….” Marinette trailed off and moved closer to him, he looked up and saw how close she was and instinctily moved his head closer to hers, their eyes slowly closing before.

“MARINETTE, Louise is here, COME DOWN!” Tom’s voice caused them to jolt back and realize what they had been about to do and laughed a little and then they got up, blushes on their faces, both beating themselves up for taking advantage of the other, missing the giggles of their Kwami’s

As Marinette and Adrien came down stairs they saw Louise talking with Sabine and Tom. “…… so I swung around to the Italian Embassy after I hit the local education department and so far I was able to find her mother…. Adrien, there you are!”

“Hey Louise, how’s the case going?” Adrien asked and Louise scowled a little.

“You’ve got the patience of a saint kid, a lot of my other clients would have gone to me a lot sooner then you. And my interns finished the last of the interviews earlier today and we’ve got a bonus with that photographer, Vincent. I won’t say much but I think that part of the case is a slam dunk.” Louise said with a nod. “Now the abuse aspect of the case, my interns had a thought that we’ll be able to handle…… how do you feel about a full physical?”

“What are you thinking Louise?” Adrien asked as he squeezed Marinette’s hand subconsciously as she squeezed back, although they didn’t realize what they had done her parents had noticed and grinned at each other a little.

“I don’t like how skinny you look, with the emotional abuse I think that’s enough on its own but well it would be good to have a second option from a neutral source.” Louse said with a shrug. 

“Okay, I can do that. But you can’t get me for that here, a pick up somewhere else is best.” Adrien said with a hard nod and Louise nodded.

“Yeah, I guess it is. Okay the best thing would be for you to be in disguises….. I could probably grab an outfit for you to wear, but it might take me a day or two.” Louise began when Marinette spoke up.

“I can handle that.” Marinette said and everyone looked at her and she looked down. “After that time we tried to go see _Solitude_ , I rememberd how hard it was so I figured a disguises would be best for next time he was out and about, then I figured outher celeberties might need something like that so I’ve been working on a jacket with a pocket in the hood to hide a wig.”

“Clever girl.” Louise said as he blinked and Adrien grinned at her. “How far along are you with a prototype?”

“I finished the jacket’s body, a little work and I can finish it tonight, I just need to remodel it into a vest with a detachable hood.” Marinette said with a shrug.

“Thanks Marinette, once this is over with I’ll pay for the material cost.” Adrien said and smiled as Marinette giggled.

“It’s fine Adrien, but I got them from thrift stores and it was financed by my Jagged money.” Marinette said with a grin. “It’s the profits from glasses and CD cover I made for him, most of it is going into a trust fund, but I take away about 1 percent of it for materials. Just give me a review of it once you’re done with it.”

“Thanks, but thrift stores?” Adrien asked and Marinette giggled a little at his questioning look and shrugged.

“The biggest problem I have is what the final work will look and feel like, so I started to use pre owed clothing to get my final drafts finished and make notes on how what to use for the final material.” Marinette said with a shrug. “It’s been doing wonders for letting me learn how to handle different fabric and others materials.”

“That’s interesting. But about your case.” Louise said and looked around with a sigh. “From what I’ve found so far, you have **not** been expelled.”

“What!!” Adrien, Marinette and her parents exclaimed and Louise nodded. 

“But Damocles expelled her, we were there and he called us in!” Tom snalred and Adrien looked confused before he started to growl. 

“Adrien, what is it dear?” Sabine asked and Adrien looked at them before he sighed and looked at them.

“It’s in the school’s power to let a student go if they don’t show up for a certain number of classes and days, right?” Adrien asked Louise and Marinette and her family looked at him before they got his meaning and Tom started to growl as Sabine hands started to flex, imagining a certain owl’s neck was between her fingers.

“From what my contact found out, the only thing that a request for the paperwork to let a student who doesn’t show up go.” Louise said somberly before he grinned. “My contact was so shocked once I told them about what happened, in a day or so the paperwork for the hearing will be done, the judges needed will be contacted and then you’ll get a summons.”

“So this won’t happen to my daughter?” Tom asked and he breathed a sigh of relief as he squeezed Sabine’s hand.

“Yes, in fact if you go to the education board tomorrow we can get the ball really rolling.” Louise said and looked around the room. “Okay, I’ll call around and find a doctor who I can trust to keep who he’s looking at quiet.”

“Thanks Louise, thanks a lot for this.” Adrien said and Louis laughed and smiled at him.

“Hey, kid I’ve found that sometimes you’ve got to help people out when you can, sides you helped me keep my license so I owe you big.” Louise said and waved off the others before they even opened their mouths. “Long story, basically he was recording his mom for a project for a gift, I was there under contract and he was using a model that gave the time it was made and well long and complicated.”

“Okay….. What time should we head over to the board of education tomorrow?” Sabine asked and Louise looked down at his watch. 

“I would say around eleven ma’am.” Louise said with a smile as he got up. “Once there head to complaints, tell’em that you want talk to anyone about an illegal expulsion, that should get you where you need to go.”

“Thank you.” Sabine said as she shook his hand and he grinned.

“Like I said, sometimes you have to help others.” Louise said with a smirk and walked towards the staircase down and out. _And I need to do a little pro-bono work every now and then, and this is one of them, and if I get to hurt the institute that hurt her, so much the better._ He thought as he walked out into the back ally and smiled up at the darkening sky.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya's Parents are told about what Lila has done, Max realizes how the teachers have messed up and Nathalie and Gabriel plan an act of terrorism/ fixed and reuploaded in Rich Text, will be doing rest of story as of this upload tonight

Alya slipped out of her room and stopped at her sister’s room, opening the door and looking it, smiling as she saw them sleep as she looked into the room. _I am never letting those two hang around Lila if I can ever again, I mean I trust her to look after them and she probably told them nothing but lies about herself. And I can’t believe that Adrien thought we wouldn’t believe him, but I can see why he was thinking that. I let both of them down and I let my sisters down!_ Her thoughts died as she felt a hand on her shoulder that caused her to turn to Nora’s smiling face and she sighed, now or never.

“Come sis, it won’t be that bad.” Nora said as Alya smiled and sighed.

“I dropped the ball so bad sis, so bad.” Alya said as she walked towards the kitchen, keeping her hand closed as she walked, mentally preparing to exposed everything that she hadn’t done, sure that her parents would be ashamed of her. As she came into the room she saw her father Otis seating at the table as her mother Marlena put the last of the leftovers away in the fridge and Alya coughed and they both looked up at her and Nora.

“So what’s wrong Alya?” Otis asked as Alya and Nora sat down at the table as Marlena walked over and sat down next to him. No one noticed Alya slipped something onto the underside of the table and Alya took a deep breath before she started.

“I messed up, I…… to start with about two days ago a liar that I trusted framed and got Marinette expelled.” Alya began and Otis looked shocked as Marlena gasped as Nora scowled.

“Marinette, your friend Marinette? Why?” Marlena asked and Alya looked down. “Alya?”

“They found the answer sheet for a practice test in her bag, then the liar said that Marinette pushed her down the stairs while they were walking to the principal’s office and then a necklace belonging to the liar was in Marinette’s locker.” Alya said as

“Wait the lockers, but they don’t have locks! And why didn’t the teacher see what happened when she was ‘pushed’?” Otis demanded as he stood up from the chair, a scowl on his face and Alya looked away.

“She stayed in the class room, they were alone when they went to the principal’s office. Then the lieing bitch took us to our locker room and her necklace was in Marinette’s locker.”

“She, the liar just walked after falling down the stairs to the courtyard? After a fall like that you’d get some wounds. And the nurse just let her?” Nora asked with a growl and Alya looked shocked before she started to look sick. “What is it sis?”

“Lila didn’t even go to the nurse’s office, she just led us to Marinette’s locker.” Alya said and at this Marlena gasped.

“Wait, don’t your lockers not have locks!” Marlena said and Otis looked shocked.

“They what?! What kind of school is this?!” Otis demanded and Alya looked down. “Alya?”

“That’s not the worst of it. I missed it when I investigated the school…… about five years ago a student almost drove another student to take their own life.” Alya said and her parents paled as Nora started to growl. 

“How the heck did you miss that Alya?!” Nora asked angerly and Alya looked down and Nora winced. “Sorry sis, I mean……”

“It was kept quiet, I….. it was part of a settlement to spare the school and to try and make it better.” Alya said and looked up at her parents. “My friends…..Marinette’s family is going to sue the school about this, how he said she was expelled and well everything, there’s going to be an expulsion hearing last I heard and no matter how it came out she’s……They were talking about going homeschool definitely.”

“And you want to join them Alya?” Marlena asked as she reached over and grabbed her husband’s hands as he looked thoughtful.

“Homeschooling? Are you sure about it little sis?” Nora asked and Alya nodded. 

“The way they were talking, they might close the school to go over everything and if that happens well they might send us off to any-school in the city no matter what we want or what kind of school it is, this way we’ll be ahead of the curve and all.” Alya said with a nod. “I’m setting up a private blog so that the other students can look over all the programs tomorrow.”

“You’re setting up the blog because you want to make up for not believe Marinette right sis?” Nora cut in, causing their parents to look from her to Alya as they tried to understand what Nora had said.

“Not believe her her……why?” Marlena asked and Alya looked down ashamed.

“I thought it was like what happened with Daisy and me mom; I just saw what I did in her actions.” Alya said and Otis looked at his daughter and released a sigh as Nora shook her head.

“Oh Alya.” Otis said with a look of self-hatred that almost broke Alya’s heart.

“Dad, it wasn’t your fault. And you were right about me and Daisy.” Alya said as she looked at him with a smile.

“Sis, you gotta let it go. The way it came out, the both of you were having a bad day and you acted like that for about a month before dad talked to you.” Nora said as she smirked. “And he only knew what to say to you because he had a bad first encounter too right?”

“Okay, I’ll admit to that. But homeschooling……… how are we going to not have the twins know about it?” Otis said and then he chuckled at Alya’s confused expression. “What, are you thinking that they’ll not have problems with them doing it too?”

“Fair point…… Alya are you going to the hearing?” Marlena asked and Alya nodded. “Then Nora will be going with you, she’ll ask for a copy of the minutes so the two of us can look it over and then we’ll talk about it, how the other hand how about looking into school around here that might be a good place to transfer to.”

“Okay, okay.” Alya said and sighed. Nora walked over and hugged her. “Sis?”

“Look Alya you made a call based on what happened to you. Yeah it was the wrong call but everything that you knew said it was the right one to make.” Nora said as she drew away. “This isn’t gonna be the last time, and that you know it was the wrong call will help you a lot latter in life, trust me.”

“Thanks.” Alya said as her parents got up and hugged her as well.

“So, homework done, anything else that you need to do to get ready for tomorrow, anything we can do to help out?” Otis asked and Alya looked down and thought about it for a few seconds.

“First, I need to talk to someone without Lila knowing, Nora can you watch the twins tomorrow, I need to track down a few people.” Alya said and Nora nodded.

“Sure little sis, I’ll be glad to, but I’ve got something I need to do on Sunday.” Nora said and she shared a look with her parents. “You head off to bed, I’ll be on twin patrol tomorrow.”

“Thanks sis, I think I take a shower and hit the sack, is that okay?” Alya said and the other three stayed where they were until they heard the shower being turned on.

“You’re going to talk to Marinette about this, aren’t you? And nothing we say will stop you right?” Otis asked and Nora nodded.

“Yep.” Nora said and Marlena sighed.

“Make sure you grab some of their cookies when you leave then, need some money for that?” Marlena asked and Nora shook her head.

“Why talk to her?” Otis asked and Nora sighed.

“I think there might be something off with the story Alya told us, that she left something out on purpose.” Nora said with a shake of her head. “I figured that the little girl won’t.”

“She is honest.” Otis said as he got up, never noticing a microphone on the underside of the table that Alya had slipped there when no one had noticed.

As Alya got into the shower she removed an earbud as she turned off an app on her phone. _So glad I got that tech piece form Max, glad I commissioned it from him. I gota send a message to Marinette about this, I mean I can’t not tell her, I mean I never told them about the ‘Akuma Attack’ attack that fizzled out, nothing happened and the butterfly never even got me! But if Lila is working with Hawkmoth then I don’t know why she didn’t try and grab one during………..because if anyone of us saw it then she would have been exposed! That lying rat, I will do everything that I can to take her down!_ Alya thought as she gritted her teeth and finished undressing before she got into the shower and let the water flow over her. “Something else to deal with latter.”

Later on as she walked into her room drying off her hair she grabbed her phone and got onto her bed before she activated a texting App.

Reporterox; Hey girl able to talk or are you _talking_ with your guest?

BakeDesign; Alya!! It’s not like that!

Reporterox; Sure it’s not, not yet anyway. Anyhow, my sis is going to come over on Sunday, I told them about the liar but not the swarm.

BakeDesign; You didn’t you tell them about the red bugs that attacked?

Reporterox; No….. I should have but I don’t want them to worry to much, say do you know where the weather girls will be tomorrow?

BakeDesign; Alya. Fine I’ll try and not say anything, I can keep secrets you know. And I think Nadia said she saw them at the station sometimes on the weekends before lunch once.

“Don’t I know it girl, don’t I know it.” Alya said with a smirk as she typed another replay.

Reporterox; Yeah, I know you can girl. I guess I don’t want to make more waves now then we need, I mean my dad when he gets bit by bugs is one thing but my mom, let’s just say Nora inherited her temper.

BakeDesign; Ouch. 

Reporterox; Don’t get me wrong, we’ve all got problems but well, mom once turned the air blue when someone insulted dad.

BakeDesign; Okay I would do the same thing if someone insulted my mother or father.

Reporterox; Yeah, well tomorrow I’m planning to talk to Aurora about what you told me, find a way to get the information you got me to the others in the school.

BakeDesign; Make sure that you do it safely, if Lila figures out anything that might then you’ll be her next target.

Alya looked at the text and a tear escaped from her eyes and she shook her head. _After everything that happened you’re still putting others ahead of yourself, girl you are too good for this world. And that bitch is going to be driven out of here on a rail if I have anything to_

Reporterox; Don’t worry, Lila said she’ll be gone for the weekend so I’ll head to the station early to talk to Aurora.

BakeDesign; Good, I’ve gotten in contact with him and he wants to meet you all tomorrow so after lunch then, you see Manon is coming over tomorrow for me to watch so we’ll have to go see him after I let her go, so after lunch if nothing happens.

Alya went still and released a deep breath and looked around her room before smiling that at least she might say goodbye to Trixx. _This is bigger than you Alya, this is about Paris. The best thing that could happen is that Mari and Adrien can keep theirs and keep fighting Hawkbutt, if I have to loose Trixx then so be it._ Alya thought as she got her emotions back under control.

Reporterox; Good girl, then I’ll talk to Aurora and swing around to help with Manon after, maybe a play date at the park before she’s picked up…… no the twins are staying home for the day……. Long story okay and I don’t want to talk about. So I’ll see you tomorrow and tell you about it all, have a nice night because I’m sure my dad will be here any minute.

“Lights out Alya! You’ve got a big day tomorrow so make sure you have a good sleep!” Otis said from the other side of her door and Alya looked up from her bed and smiled and sent off one last text as she got under her covers.

Reporterox; he just gave me the bell, see you.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Max sighed as he put away his dishes and finished cleaning up his dinner as he looked around his home as Markov recharged behind him. _I can’t believe that I was so wrong about them. I’m usually better but then that napkin thing was proof that I don’t always think things through._ Max thought as he finished. 

“Come on Max, I mean you couldn’t have known. With all the data it stood to reason that we were right.” Markov said and Max sighed as he walked out of the kitchen towards the living room as Markov took off and flew after him. “You can’t blame yourself too much.”

“I know Markov, but I guess with what happened I was too sure of what we found to think we were wrong. That’s a problem I have I guess.” Max sighed and shook his head. “But what really gets me is what they told us about the school.”

“I suppose that the Principal wanted to protect the school’s reputation. But you would think that they would have tried to keep that from happening again.” Markov said and Max sighed as he sat down and grabbed a controller as he turned the tv and game system on, quickly starting one of his creations.

“I guess…… but still.” Max said as he leaned back against the couch and sighed.

“I believe this is another reason your mother said that you need to talk to people more Max, at least Chloe wasn’t involved.” Markov said and Max looked at his robot as he hovered there. “I predict that she would have, what’s the term, blogged about it right away.”

“Maybe not right away, but maybe.” Max said with a laugh. _I mean, maybe the old Chloe. She has become a lot better, but then I did see her mother and I can guess where how she acted came from but man, I don’t know who’s at fault. I never thought the fact that my father is dead would be a good thing, I can only know him from the stories mom told me, I can never know if how he would thing about how I’m more brains then brawn._ Max thought as he called up a save file _._ “I think maybe she’s trying to be a better person, but I can kind of see where and why Chloe became who she is.”

“That is still beyond me Max, I am getting closer to that level of thinking is still beyond me.” Markov said with a sad ‘face’ and Max smiled at him as he paused his game.

“I know you are Markov, that’s something else I’m proud about you, and then there’s the face that you showed the inactive to investigate Lila on your own, I’m so happy.” Max said and Markov ‘blushed’.

“From the interactions with Marinette I knew that she wouldn’t do something so out of character. I first went through the easiest thing I could figure out, Lila’s fall. I calculated with a seventy percent chance that Marinette tripped is the only reason Lila could have been pushed at all, but even that is suspect because of how Lila was able to walk away with the supposed fall.” Markov said and then hovered to the left. “Of course then there is the necklace found in Marinette’s locker, that was very suspect, how could Lila have known the stolen necklace was there? How could Marinette have known about it since Lila never mentioned it before?”

“A few things to mention to Marinette when I talk to her then.” Max managed as he realized all the unanswered questions that the principle hadn’t even thought of because of the chaos of the event. “I can’t believe we missed all that!”

“Don’t be too sad Max, nobody notice it even me; it was only after I looked over my files did I think of those questions.” Markov said and Max looked at him and his mouth dropped open in total shock. “Max?”

“Why didn’t the principle or Miss. Buister call for the nurse, why didn’t she come?” Max asked shakily and Markov looked at him and a question mark appeared on his face as he landed, a sign that he was trying to find out the answer in his data banks.

“I don’t know…. I can’t create a possible idea.” Markov said and Max went still as he thought of one reason but there was no way. “Max?”

“Nothing Markov, I just can’t think of anything myself.” Max said before a ringing came from the phone. “Markov?”

“There’s a video call coming in Max, shall I put it on the tv?” Markov asked and Max nodded.

“Do it Markov.” Max said as he put down his controller. A few moments later a woman with dark skin, brown eyes and short brown hair a low bun wearing a orange uniform with a patch of a moon before a yellow star.

“Mom! You’re back on earth already?” Max asked with a smile

“Hey baby, Markov how are you two?” Claudie asked as she stood before a camera with

“Quite fine Claudie, a few problems here and there but everything is fine.” Markov said and Max looked at him as his mother gasped.

“Are they serious Max?” Claudie asked and Max looked at Max and then sighed.

“When are you able to come home?” Max asked and Claudie looked at him and he hoped that she didn’t read into more then he wanted as he tried to keep his face expressionless.

“I should be home in a few days but if you need me to come I could see if I can get bumped up.” Claudie said and Max shook his head. “Are you sure Max?”

“No mom, it can stay as it is for now. When you get back we will have to talk but what happened didn’t happen to me.” Max said with a smile and she looked at and sighed.

“Okay, okay I’ll still try and get my post mission work done first, but I will let it take the normal course.” Claudie said and looked at them with a smile. “So anything else, any new Akuma’s that push the understanding of science?”

“The last one was yesterday, I think it was someone who either loved dogs or worked with them, he could control dogs and rode a giant one.” Max said and Claudie looked at him and shook her head as an old horror that he knew all too well came over her. 

“You were safe right Max?” Claudie asked and Max grinned

“When the attack started I was in my room, and I he didn’t come over here at all, I think he might have been defeated near the stadium according to what Chloe posted.” Max said and Claudie looked at him and sighed.

“With what’s happening in Paris that’s the best that I can expect then. I’ll be back in a few days and we’ll talk about everything then.”

“Thanks mom, be safe and have a good day.” Max said and Claudie laughed a little.

“Have a great night’s sleep baby.” Claudie said as she closed the video chat. Max smiled and got back to his game was soon lost in the action. 

“That was better than I predicted Max, I was sure she would have tried to get here faster.” Markov said and Max nodded.

“Mom promised me that if I said it was okay, she’d not rush home. And this way I have a few days to look over the data and give a good presentation to her about it.” Max said with a smile. _This is perfect, this way I don’t have to bother mom on the station and we can talk about what I learned and then work from there! I just hope that those programs that Chloe found for Marinette are right for all of us. I know mom fought against me doing that before but after what happened this might be for the best._ Max thought as he played his game, his mind trying to relax when a beeping from his phone caused him to look down and saw a message from Marinette. “This is perfect, Marinette is going to take me to

“I think I’ll stay home Max, if someone hacks into me then Hawkmoth could have the other Miraculous!” Markov said as he hovered around the room. “One stray Akuma and he’ll know!”

“Then I guess we’ll have to work on your security programs Markov.” Max said before a bit of music from the tv caused him to frown. “After tomorrow.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Nathalie walked into the mansion and stopped before Gabriel’s office, sighing as she did so. _He’s not going to like this at all. But the plan I made is the best thing for everyone involved._ She thought as she gathered her courage to knock on the door when a voice came from within.

“Come in Nathalie.” Gabriel said from within the office and Nathalie swallowed and opened the door. “Have you found my son?”

“I think so, after checking his friend Nino’s place I then went to the next likely place he could be, the Hotel.” Nathalie said as she looked at Gabriel as he sat behind his desk looking at his computer. “Once there I found evidence that isn’t a definite it is the best lead we have.”

“And what did you find that told you that?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie smirked a little.

“I overheard the Bourgeois girl talking to a staffer about a special guest, something about how he hasn’t had to leave the suite.” Nathalie said with a small smile. “Given how she feels about him I’m positive that he’s there.”

“Good, once you can talk to him about this then it can all be fixed.” Gabriel said as he looked up and frowned at something before nodding. “Yes, that should work.”

“What should?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel smirked a little.

“The secondary Lila problem. I’ve scheduled a shoot for her tomorrow while you were gone, got back a reply and have just received another report from a special photographer who will be covering the shoot.” Gabriel said with a smirk that caused Nathalie to raise an eyebrow.

“And with everything that’s happening you think pandering to Lila is a good idea?”

“With this photographer, yes. She will give me a perfect report on just what kind of model Lila is.” Gabriel said and looked down with a smile at another email that he opened and read the contests of. “And he’s gotten to the last school she’s been in, I should have a very revealing report on her by sometime in the next few days.”

“When did you send an investigator to look into Lila?”

“After she was in the mansion the first time Miss Nathalie.” A voice form above caused Nathalie to look up and see Nooro hovering there with a scared look on its face. “I begged Master to do that, she doesn’t feel right.”

Nathalie looked at Nooroo for a few moments before turning to Gabriel with a frown. “And you decicded to work with her after an empath told you she wasn’t right?”

“Again yes, but if it had worked out perfectly then we would have finally had what we. Why the Dunpain girl alone might have won us the day!” Gabriel said with a scowl. “But of course that girl Lila couldn’t even do that right!”

“The mass attack didn’t fail because of her, it was because I was week.” Nathalie said and Gabriel sighed and shook his head. 

“She planned the expulsion with _my_ help, but it was her idea. We just tried to make it……larger.” Gabriel said as he looked up. “Perhaps the next attack should be someone with a grudge against the Bourgeois, someone who will cause enough chaos that it will let you get to the floor he’s on and get him out. If you can talk to him about it, then maybe this nightmare will end without too much damage.”

“What about Lila?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel smirked.

“I expect that I will have all I need to fire her within the next few days. I will of course have to explain to Adrien why I did it…… I plan on telling him that I did it because I didn’t trust both Adrien and the school to tell me about what has happened there.” Gabriel said and Nathalie looked down at her tablet before looking up at Gabriel. 

“Are you sure that’s a good thing Gabriel?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel looked up before looking down and sighing.

“No, it’s not. But that is the only way I can go and still have a chance not to destroy my relationship with my son. And when will she get back from those negotations with our overseas distributers?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie looked confused before she realized who he ment.

“Oh, her? A few days if the airport does their jobs right.” Nathalie said as she looked up

“Good, once she’s here I want her to talk about the lawsuit about Adrien. I want her to go over everything that the courier gave to us.” Gabriel said and sighed and looked down. “Nothing is going to be the same no matter what happens, will it?”

“No, I’m sorry Gabriel but I have said before you need to make more time with him.” Nathalie said and Gabriel sighed and shook his head. “Gabriel.”

“My Miraculous gave me empathic abilities that I haven’t been able to turn off, even working here I still get traces of Adrien’s feelings about her absences and it magnifies my own. The way I’ve been has been the only way I was able to stay partly sane and still be able to function.” Gabriel reminded Nathalie who looked down. “And remember what happened when you used it? You were unconscious for the entire day when they overwhelmed you.”

“I know, I remember Gabriel. But there had to be a better way to do this that didn’t sacrifice your relationship with him.” Nathalie said going over an old argument and Gabriel sighed and Nooroo floated lower, a look of sadness on his face.

“I’m sorry master, but all my holders always have had this problem with others emotions when others have feelings based around the same pain.” Nooroo confessed and Nathalie looked at Gabriel who only looked down, this old argument the three of them had was something that had been said many times during his campaign as Hawkmoth.

“On another note, the Pack Leader was something else sir. Shale I put it into the possible returns file?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel looked up at her and sighed before nodding. “Of course sir.”

“Oh, make sure you that you are notified the moment the paperwork about Miss Dupain-Cheng is underway, if the Lila situation is brought up I will of course deny everything. The modeling contract was just to get Lila help in keeping an eye on Adrien, a mistake that I am paying for.” Gabriel said and turned to look at his wife’s portrait. _I know that you will hate what I have become, but I only did this to get you back, once Adrien knows why I did this he will understand, I’m sure of it!_ _I know it will take a long time to heal what I’ve done, but I know we can fix this!_ Gabriel thought as he looked away from Nathalie as she shared a look of long suffering with Nooroo.

“Of course sir…….. but could he have gone to her house to hide?” Nathalie said and Gabriel shook his head as he understood what she was saying.

“No, from what I know she’s just a school mate that is friends with that Nino boy’s girlfriend, beside being classmates they have no interactions.” Gabriel said and looked at her and held up a hand. “The reason that Adrien did that to Lila is because she was used by Lila because of something about him, no more than that, from what Chloe has said the two girls aren’t friends, Adrien would not risk his oldest friendship by befriending her.”

“I will look into the school; something is bothering me about what has happened.” Nathalie said and looked at Gabriel. “If this plan fails and we can’t find him before Miss Dupain-Cheng hearing I’ll head there, if she has one then I’ll head there and take away a copy of the minutes.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Alya walked out of her building and sighed. _At least I was able to slip out before they woke up, now Aurora_ _should be at the station so all I need to do is head there and my Ladyblog should let me into the station and talk to her, I hope._ Alya thought as she walked through Paris, keeping an eye out for any sigh of Lila. For this to work she had to make it to the station without Lila having seen her, and given that she had said that she would be taking a weekend trip to help out a charity auction she had to hope that meant that Lila would be staying in, but given that she didn’t know where Lila lived she had to keep on her toes, she couldn’t mess this up.

As she moved through the streets she kept an eye out for anything that might hide Lila the false fox and within moments she had left the area and got on a bus, never noticing that Sabrine and her dad had been driving by, nor that Sabrina had noticed Alya.

“So you want to be homeschooled Sabrina?” Rodger asked and Sabrina tore her eyes away from the bus and nodded at her father. “If something’s wrong with the class you can always transfer.”

“It’s more that I discovered something about the school itself dad, its bad.” Sabrina said and sighed. _This is so not the place for the conversation but dad had to pull a late night and then this time was the earliest we could talk. And I don’t want to talk while we’re moving._ Sabrina kept an eye out and notice that they were almost to the Seine where Chloe was waiting for her. “It’s complicated and I’d rather we not talk about it in a moving car.”

“That bad then?” Rodger asked and cursed himself when he saw Sabrina nod. “Okay, then lets talk about it tonight when I get home, but what sparked you finding out about it?”

Sabrina stayed silent until Rodger stopped the car and she looked at him with a hard stare before replying. “Marinette was framed and expelled.”

Before Rodger could react Sabrina got out and ran towards Chloe and the two walked off, Rodger staying still for a few more moemnts before he drove off, a scowl on his face from what he was told. 

Sabrina walked on and kept her face blank and Chloe looked at her before sighing. “So you just told him about what happened?”

“Just the results, not the nitty gritty Chloe, he stayed out late.” Sabrina said and Chloe sighed. 

“Once the report crosses Daddy’s desk I’m homeschooled no matter what, the only thing I can hope for is that I’ll be pick the program.” Chloe said as they started to hear music that grew louder as they walked closer to it. “Sometimes I don’t know if being a mega bitch is worth it.”

“I know why you’ll the way you are, you might not think like a lot of people our age but the core results of it is worth it Chloe, you just need to learn to……show it more like other people.” Sabrina said and Chloe sighed. 

“Well, no more tears or jeers! Let’s enjoy the morning and then lunch out, my treat Rina!” Chloe said and Sabrina laughed as they walked closer to the music.

Alya got off the bus outside the TVi building and took a deep breath before she prepared herself and walked in. she moved towards the front desk and smiled at the receptionist.

“Hi, I was wondering if Aurora, the Kidz weather girl came in yet today?” Alya asked and the receptionist looked at her and then at the computer.

“Yes, she and Mirelle are due to record a segment today, but they haven’t made it in yet……. And there they are.” The receptionist said looking over her shoulder and saw Aurora and Mirelle walk into the building talking.

“…..so I was thinking, maybe we should get some new dresses for that party next moneth from Marinette if she can slip us in. I mean I love her work and a nice dress my size…. What is it Mirelle?” Aurora trailed off at how Mirelle’s face fell when she saw Alya and when Aurora turned she scowled at Alya as soon as she saw her. “Oh it’s you. What do you want Alya?”

Alya winced, for the last few weeks Aurora had been a little short with her and Alya could figure out why now, she didn’t believe Lila and with how Alya had put the interview on her blog she deserved it and more. “Aurora I need to talk to you, please.”

“About your new friend Lila, oh she wants to broadcast her recent activities?” Aurora asked and Alya glared back.

“I wouldn’t help that liar if she was on fire! This is about the school and Marinette!” Alya said forcefully and Aurora took a step back and Mirelle spoke up.

“So what happened finally made you realize she’s a liar then?” Mirelle said and Aurora looked around and Alya did as well and noticed the people in the lobby were watching them and Aurora grabbed Alya’s arm.

“Come on, we’re a good hour early and we can talk in one of the unused dressing rooms.” Aurora said as she Mirelle led the way to an elevator and soon they were going upwards. “I’m sorry what happened to Marinette was what it took to have you see the light Alya.”

“Me too.” Alya said and stayed quiet until they reached a room with Aurora and Mirelle’s names on it. Stepping inside Mirelle grabbed a paper cup of water and gave it to Alya with a smile.

“Here, you look like you need it.” Mirelle said with a smile and took a deep sip of it and smiled at her.

“Thanks, I did. I can’t believe that lying bitch tricked me so bad. I can’t believe that I didn’t believe Marinette.” Alya said and Aurora scoffed and shook her head. “What is it?”

“Look Alya….. Marinette is a great judge of character, a really great judge.” Mirelle said and looked down before taking a deep breath. “A year ago she didn’t like a sub, and he was caught trying to steal the proceeds of a school function.”

“Yeah.” Aurora said as Alya gasped. “If Marinette doesn’t like someone that’s a big red flag right there.”

“But Chloe….. I mean she and Marinette are getting along better.” Alya said and Aurora shrugged and Mirelle giggled. “What?”

“Marinette hates what Chloe **does** not Chloe the person.” Mirelle said and shrugged. “I know it’s weird but Marinette said it herself and well she’s trusting her instants about people.”

“That’s our girl but let’s not talk any more about our favorite designer and let’s talk about what you want to.” Aurora said and looked at Alya who sighed and looked down. “It can’t be that bad.”

“What if I told you that a few years ago a girl was driven to attempt suicide at our school by a bitch like Lila, that the reason more people don’t know is because a deal was made that got rid of the principle who shield the bully?” Alya asked and looked up at Aurora who stared at her stormily and Mirelle who had paled in horror.

“Then I’d say that if the school did that and expelled Marinette then I wouldn’t trust our current principle.” Aurora said and Mirelle looked at her and Aurora sighed and shook her head. “Of course when he didn’t even react to the fact what happened to Marinette, that he did, was illegal but of course he didn’t.” 

“Yeah, Kim sent me a text about that.” Alya said and then she looked at the two girls before her. “But I’m here because I got a lot of information about home schooling programs from Mari, and I knew I had to get them to the other students at school and I knew you would be the best person to go to for help with that.”

A knocking at the door caused them to turn and Theo wearing a headset and with his eyes closed pocked his head in. “One hour ladies, the makeup artist will be by in about ten minutes so finish up and get ready for work!”

“Thanks Theo, see you in a bit.” Aurora said and smirked as Theo left. “Good that he’s still doing that think after the last staffer was fired for accidently peeping.”

“Yeah. And no Alya we won’t say any more about that, and don’t spread it around okay?” Mirelle said and Alya nodded and looked around and threw her cup into the trash.

“Well thanks, I’ll send you the address for the website I’ll put the information onto and you’ll get it to everyone who needs it?” Alya said as she stretched and smiled at them. “I’ve got to go, I promised that I’d help Mari watch Manon today.”

“Nadia’s whirlpool, ouch.” Aurora said and even Mirelle cringed.

“Don’t worry.” Alya said as she left. “I’ve got a lot of experience keeping track of kids like her.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about forgotting to add chapter 9 before, so here's chapter 9 and 10 together

Adrien looked at the black pants and a black jacket/vest with dark blue pockets he was wearing before looked at how he looked in the mirror with the rig and smirked. “You know I look normal with black hair.”

“You’re just lucky that it’s a cold enough for some people to wear a jacket.” Marinette said as she looked at him holding the arms of the jacket and sighed. “But it isn’t cold enough for the full piece so……”

“Yeah, good call with the zipper arms.” Adrien said and Marinette shrugged. 

“It was like that when I found it; it did give me a few ideas and it taught me a few ideas about some tricks to try out.” Marinette said with a laugh that caused Adrien to stare at her and blush and he heard Plagg snicker in the jacket vests pocket.

“Well this is pretty good. Why’d whoever give it to a thrift store?” Adrien asked and Marinette chuckled and smirked. 

“I had to replace a zipper on one side, there was a stain on the pockets that caused me to cut them away and put in some new ones, that’s why they’re a different color.” Marinette said and Adrien ahhed. 

“Thanks for this Marinette, I better go before Nadja gets here, see you after where ever we’re supposed to meet up.” Adrien asked and Tikki spoke up before Marinette could.

“The movie theater in the 17th near the Arc.” Tikki said from Marinette’s purse.

“Thanks Sugarclub, come on lover boy the sooner we’re done, the sooner we can talk to Fu and the others.” Plagg said from a pocket in the jacket and Marinette looked away with a blush as Tikki giggled.

“I’ll meet you and the others there, this way we won’t press our luck more then we have to.” Adrien said as he looked at Marinette and took a deep breath. “And we will have to have a talk before Monday.” 

“About…..” Marinette asked and Adrien looked at her.

“Us.” Adrien said and Marinette blushed and looked away. Adrien bent over and kissed Marinette’s forehead and she blushed harder and he smiled at her as he rubbed her right cheek. “I’ll see you at Fu’s.”

“Wait, don’t forget this.” Marinette said as she handed him a slice of cheese breed wrapped up and Adrien smiled at her and hugged her.

“Thanks Marinette, thank you for being you.” Adrien said before he quickly left through the door and moved along the streets towards a location he could transform and blushed a little bit for what he had done.

“Nice going lover boy, and what do you want to name your kittens?” Plagg teased and Adrien looked down as Plagg snickered.

“Plagg, will you keep it down?!” Adrien said as he looked around, hoping that no one was nearby enough to see or curious enough to investigate.

“Relax, nobodies close enough to hear us.” Plagg said and Adrien looked around and force himself to relax a tiny bit but kept walking, his eyes looking around for any trace that someone had heard Plagg. “And if anyone does hear they’ll probably think your phone is on speaker.”

Adrien kept quiet as he walked through Paris and away from the area of both the school and the bakery, he had to find a place to transform that he wouldn’t be seen. “We have to be careful Plagg, especially now. Once mistake and this will be like the time Marinette and I tried to see that movie!”

“You’re paranoid, but in your case that’s a good point.” Plagg admitted as Adrien walked down a blind alley a few moments later.

“Plagg, claws out!” Adrien said and within a moment he had transformed into Chat Noir and jumped upwards and began dashing over the Paris skyline. **_You know I’m right kid_**

Marinette stayed still for minutes after Adrien had left until Tikki moved up and got in her face, grinning at her. “I told you he would still like you Marinette!”

Marinette snapped out of her daze and still blushing moved upstairs and got the area ready for when Manon would get here, leaving Tikki to follow behind and giggle as she flew after her chosen. Five minutes later Marinette was finished putting the last finishing touches on the living room when she heard the doorbell and gestured for Tikki to hide and hurried down stairs and opened the door and smiled when she saw who was there.

“Some one’s been dying to see you again Marinette.” Nadja said with smiled at Marinette as Manon hugged the designer.

“Marinette!” Manon called happily as Marinette laughed a little, glad that Manon was still the same given the chaos of the last few days.

“Hi Manon, my friend Alya is coming over later so let’s hope unlike the first time there isn’t an Akuma attack.” Marinette said and Manon giggled. “Now I left out a juice box and cookies upstairs, who can I trust to be a good girl and go drink it and eat the vegetable cookies?”

“ME!” Manon called out and Marinette let her run to the stairs and walked up them carefully.

“Thanks again Marinette, I’m sorry for bothering you like this all last minute but I was originally going to have the day off but then my boss called me and I had to go in for a surprise interview. So everything is good then I’ll be back before noon.” Nadja said as she handed over a small bag and Marinette nodded.

“Don’t worry; this is fine. And I might be on hand to watch her during the mornings on weekdays in the future if you need me to.” Marinette said with a smirk as Nadja looked shocked. “I’m going to be homeschool for the rest of the year at least, so I’ll get back to you about what days I might be able to handle her.”

“Did something happen at school?” Nadja asked and Marinette sighed.

“That is a long story that I can’t legally talk about until my expulsion hearing.” Marinette said and held up a hand as Nadja opened her mouth. “LEGALLY I can’t talk about it, but once I can I’ll tell you the whole story okay.” 

“I’ll be back in a few hours Marinette, thanks again.” Nadja said and walked off, a frown on her face. _Why, in the name of everything on this planet would Marinette, Marinette of all the students in that school be expelled, this makes enough sense as….. nothing at all! I think I have a new subject for my next investigation, the current state of the Paris Education department and schools!_ She thought as she looked at the school across the street and she hoped that it wasn’t as bad as she feared it was.

As Marinette moved upstairs she saw Manon as she drank her juice and smiled at her. “Okay I’ve got a game, there’s a good movie you like or you could play one of the video games your mom brought.”

“Movie!” Manon said and Marinette turned the TV on and she laughed as it started.

Marinette got out a drawing pad and started to work on a dress design as she sighed, happy that this would be easy for once. 

“Hey Marinette, your parents said I could come up and help…… okay TV and movie, good.” Alya said softly as she came up from below.

XXXXXXXX

Chat Noir dropped down into a back ally and dropped his transformation and Plagg flew into his pocket that Adrien put the cheese slice and Adrien could hear the kwami eat the food. He moved out the alley and saw Louise waiting by his car and moved towards him. “Hey Louise!”

Louise looked up and blinked a few times before he realized who he was seeing. “That you kid, I wouldn’t have known it was you if I hadn’t heard you!”

“Thanks, she does good work doesn’t she?” Adrien asked as he smirked as he got into the backseet and Louise got into the driver’s seat and started the car. As they drove along Adrien looked at the windows and whistled.

“What’s with the tainted widows?” He asked as he felt Plagg move against him and waited

“Security feature that I got when my car needed to be replaced.” Louise said and smirked at Adrien through the review mirror. “Let me tell you, that modification really help me get my clients around safely. And at least this way your fans won’t see you in the windows!”

Adrien laughed lightly as they drove through Paris, letting the radio takeover the small talk. As they passed by a Limo Adrien went white as he saw the Gorilla in driver’s seat. As the car passed by and he looked back and saw the limo drive away he breathed easily. 

“Yeah kid I know, we passed your family’s car. Don’t react, we’re almost there. All we have to do is make it a few more blocks and we’re home free.” Louise said and Adrien sighed as he leaned back. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this car after your mom disappeared and he doesn’t know what my license plate is so we’re golden.”

Adrien kept silent and Louise looked at him and frowned, not liking how Adrien was behaving. _Come on kid, I know that Gab did a number on you, but I really want to believe that there’s still a way for the both of you to heal._ He thought as he went over everything that he could do to get a rise out of him. “Hey kid, your dad ever tell him the first time he met your mother she threw up on him?”

“No, really?” Adrien asked and Louise laughed a little.

“Okay, let me tell you all about how those two met. It was college, Gabriel was putting together this fashion show and your mom was between shows at the theater so she decided to give it a try, IE her sis talked her into it. Of course acting and modeling is kinda different so she was nervous as heck.” Louise said as he drove the car through Paris. “Unfortunately her sister gave her a cure but it was actually meant to purge her system and well you can guess what happened when Gabriel walked up.”

“No way!” Adrien said and started to laugh.

“Yeah, man o man he had this expression as what the fuck happened and then Emilie was apologizing and then Gabe went and changed into his spare clothing, it was his suit and then he started the show, and since it was high class clothing his complimented it and he got a great review!” Louise said and laughed. “Emilie worked in a few more of his shows and then they started to date after they graduated and then well you know.”

“You know they never told me that story. Any other stories like that?” Adrien asked and Louise laughed and shook his head as he looked into his past.

“Plenty kid, plenty!” Louise said as he looked into his past and snickered. “I’ll tell you all about then once we’re inside there.”

“There? Oh.” Adrien said as he saw they were just in front of a blocky building with a garage door next to a black glass door with a card reader and a keypad next to both doors and he whistled. “You know, I never noticed that before.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Louise said with a sigh. “Strange isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Adrien said as they drove up to the garage door and Louise opened his window and inserted a card into the card reader next to the garage door and put in a code before it started to open. 

They drove into a well-lit garage with rows of parking spaces and a door on the other side with a card reader next to it. Louise parked and then parked the car, Louise looked at Adrien and smiled. “Okay kid as we went into the door, it started to close and we just need to wait another minute then we’ll be able to leave. And don’t worry about anyone talking about you being here, everyone signs a contract of confidentiality and if anyone talks, everyone is punished until the person responsible is discovered.”

“Oh.” Adrien said and looked at the garage door and saw it closed and then he opened the car door and Louise got out as well.

“Another fun fact, the door to the waiting room outside turns twice, no way for anyone to get camera shots of inside.” Louise said as they walked towards the door to the building, it opened and a man in a suit with a face mask and thick glasses walked out and signed a few words to Louise who nodded at him. “And the doctor is great with people who have particular objections and personal requirements to their treatment, hey man how’s it been?”

The man signed a few more words and walked away towards a car and got in, not reacting and Adrien looked at Louise who grinned. 

“Motion sensors, this way the doors out only open when nobody is out of the building.” Louise said and Adrien whistled.

“They really work to keep their clients identities safe don’t they?” Adrien asked and Louise nodded with a laugh.

“Yeah they do kid.” Louise said as he opened the door and then walked infront of him into a waiting room with a girl Adrien’s age with black glasses, pink hair and she was wearing a nurse’s uniform with a black hat on. Adrien noticed that she was wearing a grey choker around her neck. “Hello, wait are you Sarah’s daughter Lisa?”

“Yes I am, are you the three 10 o’clock appointment a MERZETH?” Lisa asked and Louise nodded and grinned at Adrien.

“And another thing, they give our appointments code names and password. Yes, I am Mr. Duty.” Louise said with a smirk. “Kid go with her, she’ll take you and I’ll be here when you get back.” Adrien nodded and walked after Lisa who led him to a room and gestured for him to enter. As Adrien sat down in one of the chairs Plagg pushed his head out and looked at Adrien.

“I’m going to poke around a bit; this is about an hour right?” Plagg said before he darted away, Adrien watching helplessly.

Plagg flew through the vents and smirked as he saw black cobwebs followed them until he reached a drop and moved down until he found a circle of the black webs on the side and phased through it into a small chamber with a black sphere of the webs that glowed, illuminating the space. 

“I thought I felt you Webby!” Plagg said with a grin as he looked at who he had found.

“Don’t call me Webby stinky sock!” A high pitched voice said as a spider like Kwami with four ‘stick legs’ sticking out of it’s back and it had it’s arms crossed. “And what are you two doing here?! I thought you all went with those people to Tibet centuries ago!”

“The order fell before WW2 Zera.” Plagg said and Zera looked at him in shock and gasped.

“Then this Hawkmoth thing isn’t those guys trying to drag us out of hiding?!” Zera said, shocked. Plagg looked at her before wincing, remembering a few things the Order had done to get some of their holders to give the Miraculous over to their ‘care’.

“No, it really isn’t. So how about, want to talk your holder into fighting alongside us?” Plagg asked and Zera looked down, her mind elsewhere. “What is it; your’s is on the side of the good right?”

“Yeah, but she’s not one who likes to fight. I mean my powers are best with a team, my webs can hold foes down or help protect others, and she’s a medic!” Zera said and then looked at Plagg. “I’ll talk to her, I’ll say that I found you when I saw Chat Noir on the roof and you detransformed and you swung by while your holder was eating at a restaurant nearby.”

XXXX

Nadia walked into the hotel and looked around, trying to find her crew when she spotted someone waving at her from the elevators.

“Hey Nadia, sorry about calling you in but we really didn’t have a choice.” The executive said and looked at her with an apologetic look on his face. “I mean nobody expect that to happen to him, really we didn’t. I’m sorry; I’ll give you a day off with half pay so please I’m sorry.”

“We were just lucky that I could get a babysitter, that’s all I will say about this. So who am I meeting with?” Nadia asked and he sighed at her answer and bowed to her.

“An executive from a movie theater that is looking to open a studio nearby, and by nearby I mean outside the range of him.” The executive said and Nadia looked shocked. “We need you to well, read off a few question for the preliminaries and hopeful if nothing happens then we’ll have an interview at the studio.” 

“That’s something; I mean it would be the first new business that’s come into the city in, well since this thing started!” Nadia said and the executive nodded.

“Then you see how this could be big, right?” The executive said with a smile. “And the studio might make a superhero movie first!”

“That is amazing.” Nadia said and looked up at the clock and nodded. “But I have to be finished before noon, I promised the sitter that I’d get her before then and this was last minute.”

“Of course, I promise no more than an hour.” The executive said as they walked towards the elevators,

“Nice, and I might have a good story about one of the local school within the next few days.” Nadia said and the executive looked interested as the doors closed. Meanwhile outside the Agreste limo came to a stop in front of the hotel and pulled to a stop.

Nathalie got out and looked at the ‘Gorilla’ and nodded at him. “Go park nearby, hopefully I’ll have Adrien and we’ll be back at the mansion in a few hours.”

The Gorilla looked at her and grunted and scowled at her, and Nathalie winced and looked down. “I promise I won’t stop you if at the end of it all Gabriel and Adrien doesn’t make up and fix this, you can take Adrien to the police and testify okay?”

‘Gorilla’ nodded and Nathalie looked around at the hotel and walked inside, her eyes looking all over trying to find a clue that Adrien was there. After a few moments a hand fell onto her shoulder and she turned to see the mayor looking at her with a smile.

“Nathalie my dear, how are you? You usually talk to my people over the phone if you need the space, has something happened?” Chloe’s father, André Bourgeois the mayor of Paris asked as he stood there in his usual clothes. Nathalie looked at him and smiled.

“No, I just thought I’d hit the café here and grab a coffee. With everything that happened lately I thought it might be best that I grab one from here.” Nathalie said and Andre sighed and shook his head.

“I know just what you mean my dear. With all Hawkmoth and now this newcomer, what’s her name, Karula Zayura….. whatever. First it was how people just needed to feel strong emotions and now what she uses to make monsters, I just don’t know what Paris is coming too. Thankfully tourism hasn’t fallen too much.” He said with a laugh.

“I think her name was Mayura, and it’s never a good idea to taunt the crazy Mr. Mayor, I would have the name memorized before any speeches.” Nathalie said frostily and Andre nodded.

“Of course, but with the special guest I have……opps! Please forget I ever said anything my dear, and don’t mention it to Gabriel.” Andre said as he looked at her. 

Nathalie kept silent and looked at him and barely kept a smile down. “So you don’t want Gabriel to know about it then?”

“Just until the announcement my dear, a day at most and then go right ahead.” Andre said and he shrugged. “I know it sounds convoluted but that’s what they wanted.”

“I understand completely, truly I do.” Nathalie said and smiled at in self-thought victory. “Just for the sack of wondering, is the guest in the ninth Suite, that has nothing to do with this one right?”

“Oh of course, we were obliged to give that room to them, a point of honor as you can guess.” Andre said and then looked at the clock and then nodded. “I’m so sorry, but I have to leave, I have a meeting about a concert and well I don’t want to be late.”

“Of course, I’m sorry that I took so much time from you.” Nathalie said and watched him leave before taking out her phone.

Nath; I have two pieces of evidence that he’s here, plan is a go

Gabe; Good, I’ll see you with him hopefully, good luck.

Nathalie walked towards the café and looked around the lobby, she was sure Adrien was here and once Gabriel found the right target, she would have her chance. Once it started she would go up to the top floor and then she would find Adrien and talk to him about everything as the Gorilla drove them away from the attack.

XXXX

“When you have that court date, call me. I want to have a talk with your nutritionists, a talk involving my hands around his neck.” Doctor Albert Wayzong said with a glare as he looked at Adrien. When he had seen Adrien’s results it had taken some fast talking before he hurt Louise and then after hearing that Adrien was filling for emancipation and he calmed down a bit after that.

“Thanks doc, I really appraised it.” Adrien said as he shook Albert’s hand. Doctor Albert Wayzong was a middle aged man with a bald head and had blue eyes and a small beard. He was wearing a blue shirt under a white doctor’s coat and black pants. Adrien leaned against the wall and after a moment he felt Plagg press against him from within his coat and he kept a grin down. “And this place is great; I mean you’ve got great service and well you really take care of your clients privacy!”

“Don’t thank me my boy, this place was set up after one too many paparazzi broke down my old place. And helping you, well that was part of my weakly charity work. Keeps my optimism alive and I get to stay in practice.” Doctor Albert said with a laugh. 

“Goodbye, come again!” Lisa waved as she sat behind the counter. As she looked down at her pocket she frowned and looked up at the doctor and cleared her throat. “Sorry doc, bathroom breaks be right back in a bit.”

Adrien and Louise walked out and got into Louise’s car and then they were on the road outside of the building.

“Okay, so where do I need to take you Adrien?” Louise asked and Adrien looked at him.

“Back to where you dropped me, that’s all I need to get back to my friends.” Adrien said as he felt Plagg push against him from his pocket. Louise smiled at them and shook his head. “Anyhow, I’m sure that with how the doc reacted to your physical that part of the case is won, just give me a few more days to look over everything my investigators have found and your own interview I think we’ll win, but I am sorry you had to do this kid.”

“I know Louise, I know.” Adrien said and looked thoughtful. _This is going to be very hurtful no matter what happens, I guess in the end I have to hope that dad wasn’t this way on purpose. But I don’t understand how he could have done this otherwise._ He thought as he looked out the car’s window, not paying attention to anything until he felt the car stop.

“We’re here kid, are you sure you’re okay?” Louise said and Adrien nodded and got out of the car and bashed towards the alley, slipping down it and after a few moments he found the dead end he had dropped his transformation before. 

“Well kid that was hopeful.” Plagg said as he grinned at Adrien and smiled. “I can’t wait to talk to the others at Fu’s!” 

“What is it Plagg?” Adrien asked and Plagg grinned wider.

“Let’s just say that I might have helped us win a victory today, and I really hope I did something right this time!” Plagg said with a grin. “But I’ll talk about it later, let’s go kid!”

“Right, Plagg, Claws out!” Adrien called out before transforming into Chat Noir and then he leapt upwards and moved towards the meeting point.

XXXX

“Thank you so much for this Marinette, this was such a blessing.” Nadia said as she held Manon’s hand as she smiled at Marinette. Nadia looked between Alya and Marinette and then looked between them. “Are you sure I can’t get you to tell me what happened at your school?”

“No, I really don’t want to talk about it. But I will tell you when I can okay?” Marinette promised and Nadia nodded.

As Nadia walked away holding Manon’s hand Marinette waved as she watched them walk away and Alya looked at him and laughed a little.

“That wasn’t as bad I feared you know?” Alya said and Marinette nodded. 

“Manon’s very sweat, either just right or is a complete monster that destroys everything.” Marinette said and then looked at her watch. “Come on, we’ve got to meet the boys!”

“Yeah, but you know that she won’t give up right?” Alya asked at they walked away from the bakery. Marinette sighed and nodded. 

“Being you’re friend taught me that about reporters. And I hope we get paperwork back after that tells me at least what this will be.” Marinette said with a sigh that turned into a glare. “My parents and I talked about it; if we have to we will sue the school and or my former principle and trial by public works too.”

“Ladies, hey!” Nino’s voice kept Alya from reacting and turning towards his voice she smiled and kissed his check.

“Hey you ready for this?” Alya asked and Nino grinned and looked at them. 

“Yeah, we’re just waiting on Maxie and his bot?” Nino asked and Alya nodded.

“Don’t wait for me everyone, I’m here!” Max said from behind them and Marinette jumped and looked at Max as he stood there and smiled at them.

“Learning to walk silently bot boy?” Alya asked and Max laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

“Well, all those times I ran and hide from Akuma’s had to have done something to me sooner or later.” Max said with a smirk.

“Let’s go, we have a nice walk until we get there.” Marinette said a she walked off, her eyes looking all over until Alya looked at her and cleared her throat.

“Uh girl, are you looking for someone?” Alya asked as Nino and Max looked at Marinette as

“I’m looking for Lila, she can’t follow us.” Marinette said and the others looked at each other and nodded, all of them agreeing that if Lila found out anything about this then it would be bad.

XXXX

Sabrina smiled at Chloe as they walked through the streets, glad that they had spent the day listing to the bands and having lunch out. “So think we’ll have to do **that** after Marinette’s hearing?”

“Probably yeah. I mean I wasn’t a great student but they should have called me out on a lot of the stuff I did.” Chloe said with a scowl as she looked away.

“You really don’t like Miss. Bustier at all, do you?” Sabrina asked and Chloe got an ugly look on her face. 

“If there are word that describe how I feel about that bi….. _witch_ I don’t know them in French, English or Chinese!” Chloe said with a growl. _And that’s why I really didn’t think that teacher bitch deserved Marinette’s work like that, sorry Mari but sometimes there is collateral damage._ Chloe thought with a frown as she looked away from Sabrina and sighed.

“Hey what are they doing?” Sabrina asked suddenly and Chloe looked up and saw Marinette, Nino, Alya and Max walking on the other side of the road and Chloe looked closer when she saw Marinette was looking all around. “Are they going somewhere?”

“And they don’t want anyone to know.” Chloe whispered as she pulled Sabrina to a storefront. “Don’t look at them, look at their reflection, and keep your eyes focused on Marinette.”

“Chloe?” Sabrina asked before she could see Marinette look all around through the cars passing by the window. “What is this?”

“Marinette probably doesn’t want Lila to find them so let’s follow so we can intercept her.” Chloe said as she led Sabrina parallel to Marinette and friends. “Come on, let’s help her out since we couldn’t during the attack.”

Sabrina laughed a little and let herself be dragged along behind her

XXXXXXXXXXX

Chloe looked at them as they followed Marinette and the others, a frown on her face as they

As the four friends moved turned down the alley Chloe frowned and moved quickly and quietly towards it as Sabrina followed behind.

“What is it Chloe?” Sabrina asked and Chloe ignored her. “We saw where they were going, and Lila isn’t around here as far as we know.”

“This theater, it’s had the same owner for years, they always pay their taxes full even when they have terrible business, dad’s been……” Chloe trailed off as she saw Chat Noir drop down by them and a flash turned him into Adrien with a black cat kwami floating by his head. Sabrina’s mouth dropped open as Chloe looked from Marinette to Max, Alya and Nino and suddenly Chat Noir flashed and Adrien was standing there with a little creature hovering over his shoulder. “Oh my. god.”

XXXX

“Adrien, how was the checkup?” Marinette asked and Adrien frowned a little. 

“Not as bad as I feared but better then I hoped, I’m getting a bit underweight and well Plagg said that while the Miraculous help us use energy in a balance and heal us, it can’t make things from nothing.” Adrien said and rubbed the back of his neck. 

A sound from the door caused them to look up and see Master Fu looking out at them and smiling with a look that had a hint of mischief in it.

“Ahh there you all, come in come in.” Fu said as he gestured for them to come into the door and then pointed towards a doorway farther down. “This way my young friends.”

XXXX

“I can’t believe it, I mean it’s so obvious.” Chloe said dumbly as she watched them walk into the door and then she ran towards it after it closed and then calmly brought out two pieces of metal and got to work on the door

“Chloe what are you doing?!” Sabrina demanded as she watched Chloe work.

“I’m not giving up a chance to give that old man a piece of my mind for throwing Marinette and Adrien at Hawkmoth!” Chloe said as she unlocked the door and they saw a hallway, a door closing a few feet away.

XXXX

Fu led the way into his apartment under the theater and opened the Miraculous Box and let the kwami out, but only those who had partners who went to their humans as they all sat down and Fu brought out a tea set and cups, filling them with tea and.

“Welcome, one and all.” Fu said as he bowed to them. “I had lost hope that I would ever sit with chosen of the Kwami again.”

“Is there a difference between us and Hawkmoth and his blue witch?” Alya asked and Fu nodded before looking at her with a glare and she swallowed.

“Yes, but I must insist that you keep it from your blog. If Hawkmoth or anyone else finds out about it!” Fu said and Alya nodded.

“Chill, I’ll keep quiet, I promise.” Alya said as Trixx giggled from her place on top of Alya’s head.

“I told you she was a true Fox! We know when to find and when to hide!” Trixx said and Alya looked at her. “And we choose you Alya, we choose all of you.”

“Indead.” Kaalki said and nodded. “Each of you have traits that we Kwami……. The closest word in the common tongue is _resonate_ but it fails to catch a few things. This was so much easier when people spoke Altantian.”

“The problem with the wish, as Plagg has said is that it is _balance_ in its purist form. To make a selfish wish, that causes the universe to deal the same damage to the wisher.” Fu said as he put down the teapot and looked at them. “To save a life of a loved one, a loved one is struck down. To cure of a terrible diseases, then they get another one just as bad.”

“Wait, Atlantis was real!? What happened to it?!” Max asked and Adrien only pointed at Plagg.

“He did.” Adrien said and every human aside from him, Fu and Marinette stared open mouthed.

“To be fair, I had no choice. There was this monstrosity that was part animal and plant, and Tikki’s powers can’t destroy life.” Plagg said and looked down. “Unfortunately it had it’s roots all under the island and well.”

“And this wish couldn’t be used then why?” Nino asked and Tikki nodded.

“My holder at the time, she died before and her body fell into the sea. I slept for hundreds of years until it made it to shore and I found someone I could see would use it right. I meet Plagg again about three hundred years later in the early days of Rome.” Tikki said and looked down at the floor.

“What happened to you Plagg?” Adrien asked and Plagg shrugged.

“Me and my holder had a fallen out with the survivors and fought our way free and with like-minded people escaped to what you all know as Africa and I spent the next few hundred years fighting against them, and then I found Tikki and a few hundred years later the Guardians found us.” Plagg said with a scowl. “The survivors really went mad after that.”

“So what was Atlantis like?” Max asked with stars in his eyes.

“It had a caste based society, only it wasn’t based on birth but potential and what they would like. They had an understanding of sociology that is still unmatched so their tests helped a lot of people find their passions.” Wayzz said with a laugh as the Kwami grinned. “One of our missing siblings was usually partnered with a member of the Healing Caste, and they passed on many things to the Guardians.”

“Amazing, but back up a bit okay. Then you think Hawkmoth is after the wish to save someone?” Alya asked and Marinette looked down before she nodded as a scowl grew on her face. “Why, what happened?”

“It was the last time we fought Mayura.” Adrien began and looked at Marinette who was just a s messed up as him.

“The day that I was expelled and that mass attack fizzled out, Mayura made an appearance. She tried to trick Adrien with a Ladybug Senti-Monster…… I gave the item that created her to her and Mayura, she just killed her by recalling the energy used to create her.” Marinette said as she hugged her arms and looked down, never noticing that Adrien had hugged her as well or the stormy expression on her face was mirrored on his. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget the look in her eyes as she died!”

“Oh Mari…..” Alya whispered as they all took in what she had said.

“Dude….. that’s evil on another level.” Nino siad and even Max with his limited social skills knew that this was beyond anything. Even Fu looked both mad and sad.

“In fact, all that I know that shouldn’t have been possible. Once the Imok has it’s item, you can’t just recall the energy used, and as someone who has created one I should know, you need the item to destroy banish it away, otherwise you can’t.” Fu said as he looked at the children before him. “But what happens next is why we think this.”

“She got sick, like she almost passed out.” Marinette said and looked at them with a haunted look in her eyes. “And then Hawkmoth appeared and saved her.”

“Hawkbutt came out of his lair?! Dude.” Nino breathed and Alya looked shocked as Max’s glass slipped off his head. A gasp caused them all to turn and see two figures at the stairs, Chloe and Sabrina.

“CHLOE?!?” Adrien gasped and Marinette face palmed as Pollen who had been hovering by the gamohpone shot towards her and hugged her cheek.

“The puns, how caring Marinette is, I should have seen it.” Chloe said and Sabrina looked out from behind her and waved.

“How the hell?” Alya asked as Fu looked on and stroked his beard and Chloe shrugged.

“Sabrina saw you four move along the streets and I saw Marinette looking around and then we saw Adrien transform back and then I picked the lock.” Chloe said with a shrug at the looks she was getting. “What, I had to do something to pass the time when I was younger and stuck in my apartment while dad was out, learning to break out was something to do, at least until he moved me to the roof.”

“Come in, the both of you, let us talk for a bit.” Fu said as he looked at Chloe and Sabrina, his eyes on them and with a curious glint in his eyes. “I have wanted to talk to you for a while Miss. Bourgeois. And this is as good a time as any.”

“Good. I wanted to talk to the person who chooses kids to fight Hawkbutt anyway.” Chloe said as she glared at Fu as he grinned as the others looked at her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about forgotting to add chapter 9 before, so here's chapter 9 and 10 together/ and here's the note/ My stories will be updated on my Pat reon first then here and my other acounts second, i don't have the order set yet but that's what it has to be, sorry but that's how it is.
> 
> Put chapter through Grammarly 1/3/21

Hawkmoth moved around his lair, his mind going towards places that he didn’t want to tread.  _ I didn’t want this, I just wanted her back as I promised her so long ago! And thus my relationship with my son might be destroyed until I can get her back! _ He thought before going still as he looked towards City Hall and smiled, he had finally found what he was looking for. 

He smiled as he felt a spark of anger and rage, a perfect combination that always gave such wonderful results grinning as he activated his powers. “Fly my little Akuma, fly and Akumatization my new champion!”

XXXXXXX

A woman in a black dress with her brown hair in a bun and a red diamond necklace on scowled as she left the town hall, a petition in her hands.  _ How dare that idiot just send me out without even looking at what I wanted to do! I mean just because there was that carnival for next month I get shafted before I could even say anything! I mean really what is this world coming to! _ She thought as she walked through the streets, not noticing the Akuma Butterfly as it flew at her and then went into her necklace. She went still as the energy Hawhmoth mask formed over her face and her eyes widened.

“Inferno Empress, I am Hawkmoth! I felt your rage and I can see what they’ve done to you! How dare they show you the door without even letting you speak of what you wanted! Get me the Miraculous of Chat Noir and Ladybug and in return I will give you the power to burn those peons to the ground with the full power of flame!” Hawkmoth voice came into her brain and she grinned, something that few of them did when he took control of them.

“Let the corrupt burn, let new life be born from their ashes!” She said as black muck covered her and she started to laugh.

XXXXXX

“How the hell did you find us?” Alya asked and Chloe shrugged.

“Me and Chloe were walking around the city and saw you, Chloe wanted to follow you when she saw how Marinette was acting she wanted to follow to help keep Lila away from you all, then we saw Adrien detransform and Chloe followed and here we are.” Sabrina said and the other teens looked at Chloe.

“But how did you get in here, I’m sure I locked the doors.” Fu said and Chloe grinned.

“I picked the lock.” Chloe said blandly and the others excluding Adrien looked at her in shock.

“You what?” Marinette said and Chloe shrugged and looked at them.

“I like puzzles, there’s easy for me, and by the way Marinette? Make that box of yours a lot harder in the future, I figured out how to break it open a minute.” Chloe said and Sabrina looked at her and laughed.

“But it was nice around my hand, not too heavy and very tight.” Sabrina said and grinned. “That model is kind of nice and good for beginners.”

“Wait, beginners? You could have gotten out her out anytime, couldn’t you? All she had to do was hide and you could let Sabrina out.” Marinette said and Adrien looked at Chloe in confusion before he winced.

“I never wanted to be the rep, ever!” Chloe said and looked down. “His honor has used me a lot in his campaigns and well I always hoped someone would take him down, at least take the mayor’s office from him.”

“You wanted everybody to see you with it, didn’t you?” Alya said and looked at her as things slowly crystallized in her mind. “And that present Marinette made, you destroyed it because you think she, Miss Bustier didn’t deserve it!”

“Yeah I did.” Chloe said and Marinette looked at her shocked. “Let’s be frank, she took you out of the classroom to ‘victim blame you’, didn’t she?”

“Yes.” Marinette said and then looked at her. “But she protected me from Akuma that tried to get me, that’s how it got her!”

“What I did caused Hawkmoth to send an Akuma to you?” Chloe asked horrified and Marinette shook her head. 

“It was more how Miss Bustier reacted and the lector she gave me than anything, at least I think it was.” Marinette said as Adrien looked at her in sorrow as Alya stared in shock as Nino covered his eyes with his hat as Tikki landed on her shoulder.

“Then she’s not completely slime, but she still should have done something to me, and her reactions caused me to forget her as a teacher.” Chloe said and Marinette looked at her and tried to say something but stopped and sighed.

“To begin with, I’ll need to go over some old things that Marinette and Adrien knows. I was a child when I was found by the Order of the Guardians.” Fu said as he sipped his tea, the teens and Kwami looking at him as

“How old were you?” Chloe asked and Fu looked at her and she continued talking. “How old were you when you joined this Order?”

“Around seven, I was the youngest of three children and there was a famine going on at the time so my parents gave me to the order.” Fu began and Chloe looked up and Adrien and Marinette both looked at him in shock. “I was ten when I was ordered to meditate in isolation, I spent 36 hours and then I was so hungry that I used the Peacock Miracouis to make a Sentimonster to get some food for me. Unfortunately, I miscalculated and instead, I created a monstrosity and was based on hunger, it was Feast the blue thing that Hawkmoth awoke a few months ago, and that is why I was identified by him.”

“So you’re an old cult baby that got away.” Chloe said and Fu did a double-take and looked at her in shock.

“The Order of the Guardians were not a cult! I mean sure they recruited young, the oldest newcomer was around maybe nine……. And I did spend three years just listening to lessons that were basically just about the rules………… and I was ordered to meditate because I disagreed with some of the lessons, the same meditation that was the root cause of me losing the Miraculous that Hawkmoth uses………” Fu said as he trailed off and then he looked around the room and paled in horror. “Oh my god.”

The others looked at Chloe in shock and horror as they realized she might have been right.

“Okay, disturbing revelations aside, you wanted to talk to us?” Alya asked and Fu nodded dumbly. 

“Yes I did, I had to. As I said most of my knowledge comes from the Kwami and the order, the wish is about balance, what will be will be, but it can be different, either give people a stronger chance of survival at someone else's expense or transfer the sickness to someone else.” Fu said and Sabrina looked shocked.

“So this wish, it can’t change what happens but it can change who it happens to, make it happen to other people instead?” Sabrina asked and Fu nodded as he looked at the Kwami. 

“Yes, there might be other concerns but it looks at the person making the wish, they are the source of balance that affects it.” Fu said and they looked at Tikki and Plagg who preened under the attention.

“We’re the only ones who can decide when people are told about it.” Tikki said and they turned to look at her as Plagg nodded.

“Yeah, that’s the truth. There have been three times in the history of man that we judge that it was bad enough to risk it. One of them was the first time, we used the wish to cause a Tidal wave not to hit Atlantis and destroy it. Instead it was an earthquake that sank half of the island and killed maybe a quarter instead of 90 percent of the population. Unfortunately one of the survivors eventually started a rebel movement that caused the events that led to the birth of that plant thing that destroyed Atlantis!” Plagg said and then he looked at Tikki. “You know I never asked you what you did before we were reunited.”

“I was in Egypt, like that Akuma said he I had. There was one that was the worst though, Tutankhamun only did what he did because of my first enemy in that land.” Tikki said as she started to scowl and Plagg was scared at the look in her eyes.

“Sugar Cube?” Plagg asked weakly and then Tikki shook her head and looked around at the others looking at her with concern and rubbed the back of her head. 

“Sorry, even now I still  _ hate _ that thing for what he had done.” Tikki said and sighed. “It was a dark time for me okay?”

“So that’s why you never talked about your time away from us.” Wayzz said softly and everyone felt for Tikki. However just then their phones started to buzz and looking down and they took you their phones, their eyes widening as the Akuma alert came on.

“Oh god, it’s at Town Hall!” Chloe said as she looked up and Marinette could see the fear in her eyes. 

“Dad’s there, there’s a meeting about a fundraiser for renovations!” Alya said she looked towards Trixx but before she could say anything, the sound of Master Fu’s cane banging against the ground caused them to stop.

“Ladybug, Chat Noir will go, and only them for now.” Master Fu said and everyone looked at him. “Just because you know about it doesn’t mean that you all need to go, and you Miss Chloe will stay here for now. If Hawkmoth thinks something has changed then all of Paris would be in danger, not to mention the world!”

“He’s right, if he figures out who we are because we all go there and I let up how I treat you all then I don’t know what he’ll do!” Chloe said and Fu looked at Chloe and nodded, a small smile forming on his face as he watched them all look at Adrien and Marinette as they ran upwards, Plagg and Tikki following behind.

“They’ve done it before and they’ll do it this time too, don’t worry.” Chloe reassured Alya and she looked at Chloe and smiled.

“So how much of your personality is a mask?” Alya asked and Chloe grinned.

“Finally figured that out about me? About eighty percent, I like to do my own homework but I have terrible writing so Sabrina usually copies it and we work together on it.” Chloe admitted as she sat back and drank some of her tea.

“She’s really good at Literature and Foreign language!” Sabrina chirped and Fu looked at them both and nodded, looking at the Miraculous box and grinning.

XXXXX

In City Hall people ran about screaming in fear as Alya’s father Otis tried to find a way out, looking at the metal shutters as the Mayor cowed behind the main desk.  _ And to think I voted for him! I expected him to be a little braver! _ Otis thought as he risked a look out a nearby window and winced as a flash bomb went off outside and he lost his sight.

“Could you see anything about it?” An office lady asked and Otis looked towards her voice and shook his head. “Are you okay?”

“I tried to see anything and lost some of my sight. I can only hope that the heroes can get bye that thing out there.” Otis said as he started to blink and he started to see shapes.

“Is it getting hotter in here?” A man asked and then Otis saw that the door was starting to generate heat and glowing.

XXXXXXXX

As they ran over the Paris rooftops, Ladybug wondered just what they were getting into. As they rounded the corner she paled when she saw flames leaping towards the sky from where City Hall was and she cursed. “Of course it’s an elemental one this time.”

“Don’t worry My Lady, the two of us can handle it and most of our allies are a call away!” Chat Noir reassured her as they ran. As they made it to the plaza they were able to see that City Hall was under attack by arrows of fire that were being shot from five fireballs that moved around the building, the door starting to glow red as they watched. As they looked around they felt heat coming from behind them and they dived to the side and turned and saw the Akuma. 

She was a tall woman with ruby hair in two buns on the side of her hair with crimsons horns sticking out them point up. Her face had red eye shadow and lipstick and her mouth revealed fangs from her bottom and top teeth. She was wearing a red dress and red knee-high boots and as they watched she formed a whip of flames as fireballs formed by her horns

“So you are the fools that have troubled master Hawkmoth, I am Flame Striker and I will burn you to ashes and take the Miraculous from your remains!” Flame Empress roared and pointed the whip at them as the fireballs spat arrows of fire at them. Ladybug dodged but Chat Noir stayed still and began to spin his baton but after a few arrows hit it he started to dodge as well.

“Don’t block, if they hit it causes your weapon to grow hot!” He called out and Ladybug kept dodging and they tried to find anything that might be the item, but nothing seemed to be obvious. A dart hit her left arm and she felt it grow hot and after a few moments she realized it wasn’t going down. 

“ ** Whatever ** they hit grows hot!” She screamed and dodged a bolt that hit a lamp post; Flame Striker grinned and suddenly all the fireballs shot their arrows at the post, and within moments it melted into slag. 

“Oh.” Ladybug said as she looked at City Hall and noticed that the paint was starting to drip away.

XXXXXXXX

At the hotel Nathalie had slipped up the staircase before the attack and had made it to the right floor and looked around, seeing that most of the doors were in the process of being repainted and after a few moments found the one that wasn’t and walked to it.  _ Perfect, this plan might not even fail after all. I just need to talk to Adrien and then I can hopefully end this.  _ She thought as she knocked on the door. After a few moments she frowned as she heard the sound of someone walking around. “Adrien, it’s Nathalie. I know your father is a hard ass, but he really has what he thinks is your best interests in mind.” 

All she could hear was silence and she frowned.  _ Oh come on Adrien, I might have found out where you were hiding but this is not what I expected from you! _ She thought as she looked at the door and started to pound on it. “Adrien please I know that you can’t help but feel betrayed, but please just talk with me for a few moments!”

Nathalie heard the sounds of something moving and tried again. “I know you have to feel betrayed about what Lila said but please it’s not what you think it was, she was lying through her teeth! Please Adrien just talk to me!”

She couldn’t hear anything from within and started to bang on it.  _ he’d usually at least call back to me, and I thought I heard something moving in there before, but was I wrong about it? No, if it was somebody else they would have called out, and who else would Chloe call a special guest?! _ Nathalie thought as she tried to figure out what to do.

Nathalie looked at the door and frowned.  _ Okay, okay. This is worse, maybe he feels that I helped Lila, maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he feels that I’m always on Gabriel’s side, maybe he doesn’t. I need to talk to him face to face. _ Nathalie thought and looked at the door before pounding on it.

“Adrien please talk to me at least! Please understand that I want what I think is best for you truly!” Nathalie pleaded and then heard nothing from the other side. 

_ What is this, I don’t understand he has to be here, I can’t let it end like this! _ She thought as she started to bang on the door and then nodded. “I’m coming in Adrien!”

She backed up and started to ram into the door, feeling it move a little and smiling as she heard some movement from inside. As she moved backward she heard the elevator ding down the corridor and cursed. _ It must be security, but I have to talk to him face to face! _ She thought as she ran at the door and put all she had into it and broke through. She smiled as she ran in but she stepped on something and started to slip before falling to the floor.

She felt something lick her and towards it to see a crocodile pant and smile at her. She moved backward and felt something soft in her hands and then she smelled it. Looking down she saw biologic waste everywhere and throw up on the floor and she saw she was sitting in some of it and her cloths were all stained.

“Hey, aren’t you Gabe’s secretary or something? What are you doing in me Fangster’s sick room?”

Looking towards the voice Nathalie saw Jagged Stone and Penny Rolling looking at her with complete confusion on their faces

"What is this?!" Nathalie demanded and Jagged shrugged.

"Fang ate something that didn't agree with em bad fish or something. After the third gas attack I asked if he could stay here since this floor was being redone…….wait a tick, what are you even doing here?!" Jagged demanded as he glared at her, Nathalie could only wince as she tried to figure out what to say as she looked away but before she could say anything Penny spoke up. 

"She can tell us later, for now let's get her in the shower, we can talk after she's not in danger of getting what Fang has." Penny said as reached down and offered her a hand.

XXXXXX

Ladybug dodged another arrow and Chat Noir landed by her and grinned. "How about the fastball special with the whip?"

She grinned and nodded. Chat Noir charged at Flame Striker and started to swing his baton-staff at her and she dodged the blows, moving to the left before a trash can flew  _ through _ her, Flame Striker coming apart as the heroes looked at her in shock. 

"What the?" Chat Noir breathed as they stared in confusion before a regal sounding laugh came from all around them.

“So you were able to handle my Flame Striker were you, let’s see how you handle the Inferno Empress!” The voice called out before fireballs started to fall around them, forming a ring of fire that slowly shrank towards them as they tried looked around, trying to find a way to get away.

“How is she doing this, she’s not an illusion powered Akuma, no…… it’s fire-based, all fire! “ Chat Noir said as he looked around and

“You mean mirages……. Of course but how can she control what we see?” Ladybug asked in shock and then looked around. “Do you have a recharge for him?”

“Three more of them.” Chat Noir whispered.

“Give me a second, then make a hole into the sewers, if I can’t find a way to get around this.” Ladybug said called out her power. “Lucky Charm!”

Above them, a red and black spotted projector and a magnifying glass dropped into her hands.

“Is that?” Chat Noir asked and Ladybug nodded. “Then let me help with a Cataclysm!”

As his power activated Chat Noir slammed his hand against the ground and a hole formed that they dropped into it as the circle rushed to them, the fire missing them by inches.

“Follow me!” Chat Noir cried as they heard her scream from above them as light started to pour down from the hole, they both dashed away from the Akuma and within moments they had slipped away into the darkness, the screams of the Akuma echoing off the walls. 

The two stayed silent as they ran, the beeps of their miraculous the only sound until they reached a place to hide.

“That meant what I thought it did, right?” Chat Noir asked as their transformations dropped and they turned back into their civilian forms.

“Yeah it does, and this time we can tell him what we need.” Marinette said and then frowned. “That Akuma, it was using heat to hide so we need someone with the ability to find it so a new Miraculous needs to go into play, right?”

“Yeah but we need to keep her eyes on us, so then whoever will need someone to take her down, that means we need Chloe again. And we’ll need someone to protect her while she tries to get a clear shot.” Adrien said and Marinette nodded.

“Then we need Chloe at least, and a way to find the Akuma ……is there a kwami who can give a hero that power?” Marinette asked and Tikki nodded.

“Yes, Barkk the Kwami of Searching.” Tikki said and she looked at them all from where she was floating. “And Sabrina is also the best choice to join with him, like him she protects her pack at the expense of all others.”

“And that doesn’t bother you Marinette?” Adrien asked. “That Sabrina and Chloe need to use a Miraculous?”

“If Chloe did that to attack our  _ teacher _ then a lot of what I had against her I can work on my problems with her.” Marinette said and then sighed. “And I gave as good as I got when we bit at each other if I’m honest. She’s more…… _ complicated _ then I thought she was.”

“She’s like that, isn’t she? And I always thought she had a better reason than hated to attack you, and to go after that gift for Bustier.” Adrien said as the Kwami floated above them and Plagg started to laugh.

“That’s Pollen’s nymph’s alright! They always go after what they see as damaging their allies!” Plagg said and Marinette looked at him and opened and closed her mouth, her mind going strange places as she looked back before she shook her head to clear her mind. “You okay Pigtails?”

“We’ll worry about that later, we need to call them.” Marinette said as she got out her phone, a promise to talk with Chloe alone after the Akuma was dealt with being made in her head.

“At least this way will be a lot easier in the future, right?” Adrien asked as Plagg grinned and Tikki frowned as Marinette giggled and nodded.

XXXX

As Fu drank his tea as he listened to the teens talk with their Kwamis, he tried to get over the revelation that Chloe had given him.  _ I don’t understand, I helped deprogram survivors of the Nazi’s, why didn’t I notice my own problem? I suppose that the worst fool is one who can’t see the trees for the forest after all. _ He thought before a phone rang and they all looked to Alya as she answered it. 

“It’s Marinette! Marinette what is it….wait I’m putting it on speaker.” Alya said as she pressed a button on her phone and put it down on the table. “Okay, you’re on girl, how was it?”

“Bad, the Akuma can control fire, it’s able to generate mirages, hide and use fireballs to fire arrows that heat up whatever they hit.” Marinette said and they all looked at each other in horror. “So far she has the town hall under siege, but the arrows hit a lamppost and melted it!”

“You need help then, the lucky charm?” Fu asked and they heard a giggle from Plagg on the other end and he winced.

“We need a tracker and someone to immobilize her once they find her, so we need Queen Bee.” Marinette said and Chloe’s eyes widened.

“NO!” Chloe said and looked around the room at their surprised looks. “Think, if I show up with a new hero Sabrina will be in danger!”

“Wait……. If you don’t show up with Ladybug then you had to have gotten the Bee Miraculous from someone or somewhere else, then Hawkmoth could!” Alya said as her eyes widened and Fu grinned.

“So you don’t want the chance that Hawkmoth could hurt one of your friends?” Fu asked and looked at Chloe who nodded. “And that’s what’s going through your mind right now, giving how you showed the world you were Queen Bee.”

“Sorry if it finally hit me that my parents would never love me and I had a mental breakdown.” Chloe said bitterly. “And while I appreciate the thought behind how you turned down my mother's offer, I might have been happier if she left Paris and my life.”

“Chloe……” Alya said as she looked at who she thought was just a bully and privileged queen bitch and saw how valuable she was and what she dealt with.

“You’ve always got me sis.” Adrien’s voice came from the phone and Chloe smiled.

“Pollen, you were right about her. Are you prepared?” Fu asked and they all looked at him and Pollen who grinned.

“Yes I am, I knew she was the right person to wield my power and I hope you will think that about the new comers.” Pollen said and Trixx giggled.

“She’s got a few more people than I’m used to, but I really want to help with the snow job at least.” Trixx said and Wayzz shook his head.

“Not yet Master Fu, I will stay with you primarily until I am ready to leave.” Wayzz said and the teens looked around the room as Kaalki cleared her throat.

“Young Max is a soul with much potential, and I always wanted to try and best a golem at chess, it might be fun.” Kaalki said and Max’s mouth dropped open.

“What are you talking about?” Marinette asked and Fu grinned.

“What I’m talking about is finding permanent homes for all the Miraculous.” Fu said and the teens all looked at him in shock.

“WHAT?!” Marinette screeched and Fu chuckled.

“It was always a long term plan of mine, a way to help and protect the Miraculous and Kwami. I was actually planning this for a while since before Hawkmoth’s first appearance.” Fu said and looked around and grinned. “There were times when the Miraculous were originally in family lines, maybe it has become the time for that again.”

“Newsflash, Queen Bee can’t engage with a new here!” Chloe said and Fu grinned back at her.

“Then let Queen Bee die, become someone else.” Fu said bluntly with a smile and Chloe looked at him as he got up and moved towards the box, removing the Bee Miraculous. “Did you all think that these were the permanent forms of the Miraculous? They have changed many times over the years, but to change the Kwami must use up their abilities before they need to recharge and wait a few minutes between the transformation and first-time use. Ready Pollen?”

“You bet!” Pollen said as she hovered above the comb and started to glow, sending a light onto the Miraculous that started to glow, and after a few moments it started to shift and release a flash of light that blinded them. When it died down there was a golden hair stick where the comb had been. Pollen started to grin when she suddenly fell towards the floor.

“Pollen!” Chloe cried and grabbed the Kwami before she could fall, Chloe’s heart started to beat and then Pollen laughed. “Wait, you did that on purpose! Why?”

“A final test my dear, just to reassure my heart. And now for you miss Raincomprix.” Fu said and smiled at her as she looked back at him in shock. 

“Me?” Sabrina asked and Fu nodded.

“Yes, they were right that you might have been in danger with Queen Bee, but will you step forward anyway?” Fu asked and Sabrina gasped in shock and Marinette laughed a little. “I guess from your laughter that she was your pick my dear?”

“Yes she was.” Marinette said and Sabrina looked at the phone in complete shock.

“What! Why me?!” Sabrina asked and Chloe grinned as her friend was about to receive recognition for all that she was.

“You have one of the keenest eyes in class, and I can trust you to do what’s right. And recent events have made me rethink a lot of things and I will talk to you and Chloe about them when this is over. But for now, Sabrina will you accept the Miraculous, will you stand up and help protect Paris?” Marinette asked through the phone and Sabrina looked around, Chloe had a blank face and Sabrina knew she had to decide this on her own,

“If it will help people, yes I will.” Sabrina said and Fu laughed and looked at her with a smile and handed her a small box. 

“Sabrina Raincomprix, this is the Miraculous of the Dog, with the power of Tracking. You will use this for the greater good and return this to me when the danger has passed.” Marinette said as Sabrina accepted the box and looked around at the others.

“Yes!” Sabrina said as she opened the box. A ball of light formed into a dog shapped kwami with light brown with a white mark around her mouth, between her eyes, and on her chest. She has gray eyes, drop ears, a whisker on her forehead and a tail that curved upwards.

“Hi Sabrina, I’m Barkk! My transformation command is Let’s Hunt!” Barkk said with a grin before Sabrina hugged him.

“AWWW, you’re so cute!” Sabrina said and Barkk laughed as he snuggled with her.

“Thanks! Now my power will let you see any magic being used within a mile, you just have to focus on what you’re hunting and I’ll do the rest, just say ‘Tracker’s Eye!’ to activate it!” Barkk said with a grin and Sabrina nodded.

“Ready Sabrina?” Chloe asked as she removed her hairpin and put the Miraculous in its place as Sabrina removed the Dog Miraculous, a collar around her neck, undoing the bow around her neck to do so.

“Go, remember Chloe, think about how you want your costume to change, it is not Queen Bee but a new persona that you and Pollen must construct together.” Fu said and Chloe nodded.

“Pollen, Buzz on!” Chloe called out and Pollen shoot into the comb. As the lights went up her body it formed a yellow bodysuit with a solid black corset with a yellow collar and a white fuzzy choker around her neck and black gloves that went to her elbows and she had on black knee-high boots and her mask was pure black hiding her eyes with pitch-black spots over them and her hair became two ponytails with a black line down the top of both and a golden comb formed before them as a yellow spinning top materialized in her hands that she started to spin around her head.

“Barkk, let’s hunt!” 

Sabrina called out and Bakk flew straight at the collar and a flash of light covered Sabrina and then when it died down she was covered in a brown bodysuit with a dog tail from a belt around her waist and she had a face mask across her eyes that went to her ears and two dog ears on her head, two Escrima Sticks formed and she put them on her back and glared out a fierce look in her eyes.

“Welcome to the team! 

Say, what are your names?” Alya asked and the two looked at each other and grinned back.

“Apisera.” Chloe, the former Queen Bee renamed herself and grinned, her voice sounding different.

“And I’m Canixia!” Sabrina said and grinned as she took out one of the Escrima Sticks from her back and looked at it.

“Good, the two of us have recharged, what’s the plan?” Plagg’s voice came over the phone and they all looked at it.

“We can’t find her without you two, so we’ll attack and try and take out the fireballs. Once you get in range, Canixia can use her power and track the Akuma, then fall back and transform back, Apisera you attack her and then try to break her concentration.” Marinette said and the heroes nodded.

“Good luck to both of you,” Fu said as the two heroes nodded and ran upwards.

“Let’s back up a bit. You want to give us the Miraculous we used?” Max asked and Fu nodded.

“I am mealy the keeper and protector of these beings, not their jailer. They have talked about you all, and that might be the best thing in the end.” Fu said and smiled at them. “But I will have to ask that you go to battle when called only. And we will need to change the way the Fox looks like.”

“Why? Wait…….. the Bee was changed because everyone knows about it, so who knows about the Fox?” Alya asked and then she started to glare. “Oh don’t tell me, Lila again!?”

“Yes, tell me did they talk to you about what book Lila took from Adrien?” Fu asked and at their head shakes, his eyes hardened. 

XXXXXX

As they dashed over the Paris rooftops Apisera led the way and looked back and saw Canixia lagging. 

_ Sabrina doesn’t like to fight but we might be the MVP here, I need to give her a pep talk I guess.  _ Apisera thought as she looked at Canixia and stopped at a building and looked at Caxina and smiled. 

“Que……. Why are you stopping? We need to move!” Caxina said as she landed and looked at Apisera who looked back and sighed. 

“What?”

“Your scared aren’t you?” Apisera asked and Caxina looked down and nodded.

“I mean yeah.” Caxina said and looked at Apisera. “I’m not that brave, but I know that this can help save lives and I will help out!”

“Then don’t forget about it. Embrace it and use it to save others.” Apisera said and Caxina nodded and took a deep breath. “Ready girl?”

“Yeah, let’s do it!” Caxina said and Apisera grinned at her friend and they took off, running over the rooftops. After a few moments they were looking towards the town hall and winced as they saw the Chat Noir and Ladybug try and destroy the fireballs. “There it is, this might be the best place.”

“Yeah, let’s do it! 

Tracker’s Eye!” Caxina said and her eyes went pure white and she stepped back. 

She suddenly saw a red line going from the fire towards the east. “That way, she’s that way!” 

“Let’s go!” Apisera said and they moved forward, Caxina leading the way. They moved until they found a clearing with a woman in a red dress with a ruby crown on her head with a ruby staff with a black gemstone sphere on top. Before they could do anything Caxina saw a purple energy line shot from above and then a mask of a butterfly appeared over her face. Caxina grabbed Apisera’s hand and gestured backward with her head. Apisera nodded and they moved away from the clearing and

“I saw Hawkmoth talking to her!” Caxina said and looked at Apisera. “I mean I saw the magic go talk to her before it formed that mask!”

“What?” Apisera asked in shock before a beep was heard and a spot on her collar went away. “Your timing out, get to safety and talk to the others, if we can use this then we could win!”

“Good luck.” Caxina said as she ran in the direction of the theater. As Caxina psyched herself up she looked towards the Akuma and grinned. 

“Time for my debut.” Apisera said with a grin. “And with luck Hawkmoth will only know that I’m here.”

XXXXX

Chat Noir and Ladybug rushed towards the mirage of Flame Striker they hoped that they would have all of her attention. Ladybug threw her yoyo out and grabbed a trashcan and threw it at one of the fireballs and destroyed it as Chat Noir threw a garbage can lid at another destroying it. As they dodged the arrows from the other fireballs, Ladybug hoped Chloe and Sabrina would soon find the Akuma, and moments after she had this thought then the fireballs died, however a moment later an explosion of fire herald Apisera flying through the air and she rolled and landed next to Ladybug and Chat Noir as she winced, her top was around her arm.

“What happened?!” Ladybug asked as the true Akuma walked out, fireballs forming around her staff.

“I don’t know! I was about to attack her when…….Hawkmoth has eyes on us!” Apisera said with a snarl. “He contacted her before I sent my partner away and got the jump on me before I could do anything, sorry LB.”

“Don’t worry, you got the real one out……. Wait what?!” Ladybug asked as she and Chat Noir swung their heads and looked at Apisera who nodded.  _ If she means what I think she does, then that’s……That’s a game-changer…… we can talk about it later but for now we need to stay alive. _ She thought as she looked at the Akuma as she walked out.

“So you need help to deal with me, the Flame Empress?” Flame Empress purred as two fireballs formed and started to fire arrows at them, the three heroes dodging as two more fireballs formed behind her.

“What’s the plan my Lady?” Chat Noir asked and Aspirea chuckled as she readied herself.

“Let’s try a Lucky Charm!” Ladybug called out as she threw her Yoyo upwards and a red and black spotted fog machine dropped down. She looked at it and then around, seeing the alley that Flame Empress had come out of and then Aspirea flashed as well as Ladybug understood. 

“Take this and get back to where you left your partner and recharge,  _ look _ for an opening and activate it once you  _ see _ one.” Ladybug said as she handed the machine to Aspira who looked at Flame Empress and nodded. “We’ll hold  _ it _ off, go!”

“Got it Ladybug!” Aspira said with a grin as she realized what Ladybug meant and dashed away, Chat Noir looked at the Akuma as it moved and sent fireballs at them and they started to dodge the arrows. Ladybug used her yoyo to grab a bench and throw it at Flame Empress who burned it to ashes with her staff as Chat Noir landed near the town hall. He looked at the door as he felt the heat from it and frowned as he felt the heat from it and looked at the walls, seeing the paint start to drip down he hoped Chloe would be able to finish this before the two of them timed out.

“I’ll just be able to get Ladybug’s Miraculous before I try and get the cat! You can’t stop what you can’t see!” Flame Empress roared as  _ she  _ raised her staff and fired a bolt of flame at Ladybug who dodged it and

XXXXX

Aspira moved upwards and away, a scowl on her face.  _ He saw us, that’s the only explanation for who it happened! I guess the ideas that we’ve brainstormed about Hawkbut is dead, at least that one.  _ she thought as she made it to the rooftop and looked down at the alley, her eyes not finding anything but feeling the breeze she activated the fog machine. As the fog started to drift down she saw an area that wasn’t being covered by the fog, an area in the shape of a person. Aspira grinned and looked down at the space and jumped towards it, a grin on her face. “Venom!” 

As she fell down she hit something and saw Flame Empress fade into reality as Aspira grinned and looked at the Akuma. 

“Not bad, the only thing that’s bad is that you won’t remember much so we won’t be able to ask you how you found out we were there.” Aspira said as she reached down and picked up the paralyzed Akuma. She walked out of the alley as Ladybug and Chat Noir moved towards her.

She grinned at them and smirked before she heard a beep before another beep sounded and she put the Akuma down. “Well I’m off, hopefully, I’ll get back to my partner and we’ll hand them over to you once we de-transform!”

As Aspira jumped to the rooftops Ladybug looked over the Akuma until she found the necklace and tore it from her neck. “Catch Chat!”

“Cataclysm!” He called out and with a touch the necklace was destroyed, black energy flowing over the Akuma as she was turned back to normal as Chat jumped upwards and ret. As the black butterfly flew free Ladybug started to spin her yoyo. 

“No more evildoing for you little Akuma!” She called out as she threw her necklace at the butterfly and caught it. She pulled the yoyo back to her and smiled, releasing a white butterfly from it as Chat Noir came down with the fog machine. 

“Together?”

“Together!” Chat Noir answered with a smirk and they both put their hands under the Lucky Charm and threw it into the air. 

“Miraculous Ladybug!” They called out as it came apart into ladybugs that swarmed around, repairing the light post and then swarming over the town hall, the glow was gone when thy swarm passed.

“I’ll go, you handle the victim.” Ladybug said as she ran towards one of the buildings and jumped away, Chat Noir looking at her and smiling before turning back towards the victim as people, including Otis came out of the town hall. 

“Are you okay?” Chat Noir asked the woman who shook her head.

“Wha….Chat Noir? Why are you…… oh god! He got me didn’t he?” The woman said and Chat Noir nodded.

“Can I ask what was the cause mam?” Chat Noir asked

“I wanted to update the fire safety rules for public gatherings, I spent a month working on it but I was told that I would have to come back because a new festival was just planned for next month and to bring in new laws or rules would affect it so I was told to come back when there wasn’t one planned, and with the way the city is that would be sometime next year!” The woman said loudly as people came closer and Otis scowled in anger. 

“I don’t believe this, did you talk to the mayor about that?” Otis demanded and the woman shook her head.

“I didn’t even get that far, it was this secretary outside his office.” The woman said and then they all looked towards Chat Noir as his ring beeped.

“You all look like you got this, good luck!” Chat Noir said as he jumped to the rooftops and dashed away and Otis looked at the woman and offered her his hand.

“I’m Otis, I work at the zoo and I’ve been chosen to plan a fundraising party, how about you and I look over your proposed new rules and we see what we can do?” Otis said and the woman smiled at him.


End file.
